No System for Peace
by Yasha-HebiHime
Summary: Summary & Title rewritten: A story is told and an ending is decided. Chara and Frisk decide to work together for a future, for both humans and monsters... But to do so, they have to go against the rules. The Battle System, LV, EXP... It needs to be ignored. Combat needs to become pure again. But most of all... No one needs to die. Not again.
1. The Story

_**[Talk] - [The War]**_

You know about the war, don't you?

Of course you do, who doesn't? The war between Humans and Monsters... The war that sent monsters deep underground, never to be seen again...

But do you know _why_ the war began? It's a question asked often, isn't it? Why this? Why that? But a story doesn't begin at "Why" it begins at _What._

What happened? Who is responsible..? And how did it come to this?

… And where did it happen?

Well sit down, kid. I'll tell you.

* * *

 _ **[Talk] → [The Start]**_

Back in the day, long before most monsters here were born, humans and monsters lived in harmony. They were happy together, it was like everyone was a big family... But only in one area. For you see, monsters didn't exist everywhere. They weren't nearly as numerous as humans... Not by a long shot!

So outside that area, the monsters weren't common. That was to be expected, though!

Because monsters didn't _exist_ originally. Oh no, did you think it was something that simple? That monsters and humans had always been together in one little piece of the world? I'm afraid that all of it comes back to humans.

What? You're wondering what I'm talking about? Read between the lines, kid, wahaha!

Humans _created_ monsters!

Of course, not all at once! Wahaha

It started out as something simple, a little animal given sentience beyond their natural instincts. Gave them a reason... a _desire_ to live... They were truly determined to become something great! But... as it turns out, animals can't handle magic like that. Not all at once. It melted their poor little mind to goo.

Hm? What? You thought only monsters could use magic? Wahaha! How do you explain the barrier then? Do 'ya think monsters put up the barrier to seal away monsters? Nah, it's human made. Back then, they had more than enough magic to do things most of us could only dream of! But...

Unlike monsters, it doesn't come naturally. Had to be taught, studied, experimented with... It was something most gave up on and not just any human could do it. But then there was one guy. Boy, was he great. He could turn an apple into an orange, wahaha! He was the starting point.

He's was the father of all monsters.

Eh? What was his name?

…

I don't remember.

Anyways, what were we talking about?

* * *

 _ **[Talk] - [The Creation of Monsters]**_

Oh, right! That.

Well, that's... a difficult tale.

You see, the creator of the monsters wasn't a real popular guy in his village. The first experiment he did that melted down a poor little animal got him a lot of crap. It made people fear him. I mean, it's not every day you see a dog melt in the road! Wahaha!

Ah, but that event led him away from experimenting on still living things. Instead, he focused on magic. Pure, uncorrupted magic. He wove it into a mold, a shape, then gave it life. He gave it a mind. He gave it... a soul.

That created the first monster. A monster designed to be just like the animal he had killed... but with the attributes of a human's soul. It thought and felt like a human, even though it was just a dog. But the dog was surprising smart, even if it was really hyper!, and the human took a liking to him instantly.

Wasn't long before ol' Fluffy became his right hand man... Er, dog! Wahaha!

Soon their experiments got wilder as they created more and more animal like monsters. Then they moved to fruits and vegetables, things that weren't even considered living things by human standards! They kept making more and more and then...

The other humans noticed, and got scared. They thought 'Hey! He's making an army to get back at us!'

Wahaha! That thought didn't last long!

First monster that came into town was a big push over! He walked around asking how everyone was, asked on tips for gardening, and even made tea for an old lady who couldn't do it herself! Wahaha! It really put a lid on all the people reaching for pitchforks!

Ahh.. Those were the times.

Hm? That guy sounds familiar? Probably! He was ol' King Fluffybun's dad. The second boss monster ever created!

Who was the first?

…

I don't remember.

* * *

 _ **[Talk] → [The Beginning of the War]**_

Ahh... You read the signs, didn't you? The war began out of fear... Fear of monsters. The idea of a monster taking a human's soul and being a beast of ultimate power... It was something no human was comfortable with, not when monsters were already naturals at magic, which the humans had to work for. They weren't made of it like us, after all, wahaha..!

But...

But that doesn't explain how they knew, does it? It comes back to the start of monsters. The first monster. The dog.

As smart as it was, as much as the creator loved it, and as much as all the other monsters got along with the humans... The dog wasn't happy. It wanted to go out, to be something more. To have what humans had. Even though magic came naturally to monsters, it wasn't nearly as powerful as what a human could do.

So the dog wanted more. It gave into the same desire the creator had, to create something new. Something unique to monsters...

It created The Battle System.

Hm? You thought that was just an underground thing? Wahaha! 'Fraid not! It's pure magic that surrounds the world! It's something anything with magic can begin... It'd probably take a hundred human souls to completely destroy it. It was a true accomplishment for ol' Fluffy!

But, eh... It made a mistake. Same mistake the creator made, believe it or not!

… It didn't tell anyone.

Not even the human that gave it life. It wanted it to be a surprise.

Oh boy, was it a surprise.

Little kids, monster and human, playing together... Fighting each other with sticks, like lots of kids do, but never really hurting each other... It was the worst time for the spell to go off. A monster kid and a little human child got into a fight, an argument... and began a battle between souls.

A little kid like that had no chance against a monster's magic, not in that system. The monster didn't even understand what was happening... But anger clouded both of their minds and they didn't give it a second thought. There was no chance of Mercy. The kid died and the monster, out of instinct, swallowed their soul...

It was truly a dark time.

* * *

 _ **[Talk] → [The Spell]**_

Hm? How did the dog even create such a spell?

Now that... It's not something I can't remember. It's something I don't know. No one does. No one was there... We just know about the end result..

What happened to the dog? Now that I do know.

It died.

The creator was... heart broken. No one knows how it died, it was just... melting in front of us after the spell was cast. The last thing it did was walk up to the creator and ask...

… It asked if he was _proud_ of it. Proud of it doing such a spell... A spell that took so much power.

The creator didn't have the heart to tell the dog what issues the spell had caused... No one did. He just smiled... and held the dog close, and whispering how proud he was of it until it melted in his arms.

… That was the first time any of us really felt distress. Sadness... Everything else had been confusing happiness, even if there were little spats now and then. Seeing the creator sobbing and holding onto the dog's remains... It really put a damper on everyone's mood.

Then the worst thing happened.

* * *

 _ **[Talk] → [The Worst Thing]**_

Turns out the kid that had been absorbed wasn't just a random villager kid, but a noble's son from a nearby human kingdom. They were trying to get to know the monsters, trying to talk to the creator to see what he could do.

He was a real nice guy, too. Very friendly with everyone and more interested in having some monsters around to help teach basic magic than anything nefarious.

But seeing his kid get absorbed like that... Their entire soul just disappearing and creating a massive beast that could only be described as a giant wolf of unimaginable power...

It sapped all the joy out of his own soul.

That was the start of fear. No one, not even the creator, knew monsters could absorb souls. Why would they? None of the monsters had been around long enough for anyone else to die near them! Only the dog, who had melted, had died in the few years monsters had lived... and it didn't even leave a soul behind, just a puddle.

The noble had gone straight to the creator, swearing vengeance if his son was not returned to him. But the creator was still out of it, unable to accept the dog's death... or that the dog's death had been completely in vain. We don't know what the intention was behind the spell... But everyone knew the dog didn't want this. Didn't want this death. It left a bitter taste in everyone's mouth, and they looked to the creator for help...

But the creator, under the pressure of the noble, could only swear to try to return his son to him.

Swearing wasn't enough. The man needed results.

So the creator went to the monster child, who had yet to leave the park where the fight had taken place, and took him home... Tried to experiment to see how the soul was absorbed. The creator was a master of magic, and could easily take apart the monster without really hurting it, even with a human's soul inside it! It was astounding.

But...

The creator was still not perfect.

The monster died, and so did the human child.

It was the second time the creator cried.

* * *

 _ **[Talk]**_ **_→ [Fear]_**

Monsters and humans became distant after that. Distant and afraid of each other.

Hm? Why were monsters afraid?

Because they loved humans. They had so many friends and the rules behind the Battle System had not been discovered yet. They didn't want to accidentally kill someone. They didn't want to fight anyone they cared about...

… Wahaha! That didn't last long either!

Turns out all you need is a tiny bit of magic to link two, or more, souls together for a time. With both races so afraid of each other, neither of them were willing to use magic around the other! Up until a little girl came wandering over to the creator's home, where the monsters were hiding.

Wahaha! The look on everyone's faces! Wahahaha! They were all shocked she just wandered right up to them!

… Turns out they were friends with one of the little monsters and both had been dragged away from each other without warning. Neither were really given much reason to stay away, either. You know how adults are, wahaha!

… Eh, that's a weird look you got there... But anyways...

They got to playing right in the middle of a big group of stunned monsters. Then some humans came over to get her. They tried to shove the monster kid away when he tried to go with her...

Wahaha! I never heard a little human kid shout so loudly before! Saying not to hurt her friend!

It was so loud it broke the other monster's out of their trance! And as it turns out...

… The two adult humans that came over were the girl's parents, and they were close friends with two other monsters. The monsters came over, apologizing and asking if the children could play for a bit longer...

Wahaha! The parents had no choice. The kid was already gone and playing before the other parents even asked! It really broke the tension around the village, when everyone realized the monsters would never steal a soul intentionally.

But... Like I said before, monsters weren't everywhere. Just in one spot.

Rumors spread... Fear was created. Anger became a driving source...

The war began.

* * *

 _ **[Talk]**_ → **_[The First Battle]_**

It came... without warning. No, that's not right. We all knew something would happen like this. We were just glad it wasn't because of our friends. No, it came from a different place.

From the noble's origin.

Knights marched into town, demanding all monsters and the creator be turned over to the kingdom. Refusing would result in the arrest of every human _and_ monster in the area...

And most monsters would refuse this truth. Especially now that humans are the reason we're stuck down here. But up there... Up there our friends stood by us. They refused to hand over the creator, refused to hand over any of us, and in turn we refused to let them down.

We refused to let the knights kill anyone.

It was the third option the knights didn't outright state, but the metal blades they held had told their intention rather clearly if anyone resisted arrest. The first battle...

It could barely be called that.

Magic and metal flew through the air the second after heavy refusal was given to turn in the monsters. Buildings were destroyed, lives were taken, and souls...

Shattered.

… It was a dusty day.

* * *

 _ **[Talk] → [The True War]**_

The second time they came... It was different.

There was no discussion, no demands, no orders... Just an attack.

But this time, the humans were ready. _We_ were ready. We began to fight back with the creator behind us. With him, no one feared death. No one feared losing. We were _determined_ to save our friends... and ourselves.

But determination, it seems, was our downfall.

Monsters... Monsters can't take that. That sort of powerful emotion... It's what causes us to melt. It's what makes us completely different from humans. We aren't as powerful as them because we simply can't take that much power, our magical bodies and souls just aren't built for it.

The second battle... the one we were so determined to win... came to a halt when half of our forces melted when they swung their weapons. Even in the Battle System that the monsters had begun to use to fight more physically powerful enemies had resulted in a monster melting before they could really get an attack off.

It was... devastating.

They tore through our line and went straight to the humans we were protecting. But then...

Then there was the creator.

He was amazing... No one could hope to be a master of magic like he was.

Swords bent or completely turned harmless, like changing into a carrot... Armor became silk. The ground became thick and muddy, making the knights lose their footing. Fire from the human mages became nothing but glitter...

It was... astounding.

But then... He saw how many monsters had fallen. How many had melted. How many simply could not take the emotions running through them.

Anger, despair, and... determination flared through that man. It was clear on his face. He was going to put an end to the war. It filled us with hope.

...

Wahaha...

If only it had been that simple.

* * *

 _ **[Talk] → [The Angel]**_

As powerful as he was, as amazing as he was... He had limits.

The creator could not handle all of the soldiers that kept coming after everyone. His body and soul could not keep up.

Soldiers poured through, slaying the humans that sided with us... and many monsters. Dust and blood filled everything. Covered... _everything._

It was then that the noble, the one whose child was eaten, stepped up. He asked if the creator regretted making monsters, regretting killing his son.

Wahaha...

He didn't even get a chance to answer the guy.

'Cause that little girl, the one who got our friends back... That little angel killed him. She killed the noble.

She was crying and screaming the whole time... The knights and monsters could only watch as the thick knife she used floated and went through the air like a bullet, tearing the man apart. She...

She had watched... as her friend died right in front of her. Protecting her from a stray arrow from one of the knights. That's all we could really gather from her screams.

…

But the surprise didn't last long... and soon the knights were on her... Trying to capture her or just kill her... I don't remember which.

But the creator... He didn't let them. Didn't let them even get close. Even Undyne couldn't hope to match the shield he created around her and himself as he held her... He was crying now too, saying how sorry he was for everything. Sorry for starting all of the madness.

The Knight's leader, a general, came up then... demanding their surrender. Despite the noble being dead and the creator being safe inside his shield with the girl... All the other monsters were captured or dead.

The remaining humans..? Our friends?

Completely... and utterly gone. Murdered by other humans... Only one was left, and she was in the most danger of all.

The creator... seeing the situation everyone was in... gave up. He asked only for no one else to die.

But that angel... had other plans. Her knife was still outside the shield. She … made it move towards the General, trying to kill him as she had killed the noble.

But the man was powerful and good at magic. The Battle System began just as the knife started to move... His LV was the highest I've ever seen... It didn't even make him flinch when the knife buried itself into his neck. Why would he?

It barely did a point of damage to his HP.

But despite the sudden attack, he spared her. Mostly because of the shield still surrounding her, I think, and confirmed that no one else would die... The creator made sure he promised, using a spell too I think, and it was a deal.

The shield fell.

The knife didn't.

It flew through the air and tore through the girl's chest, causing everyone to stare in alarm. The creator had shouted and screamed at the General in anger for going back on his deal...

But the General had not. He was just as shocked as the creator was, and was openly gaping as the girl stumbled back, her hand gripping the blade in her chest as she stared up at the knights.

… I still remember her words clear as day.

" _I won't forgive you. I won't forgive any of you. He died. I loved him. He was my best friend, and he died because of you. I won't forgive you. I won't! I'll kill you... I'll kill all of you! Everyone! Every single one of you!"_

Wahaha... What a fire cracker she was.

* * *

 _ **[Talk] → [The End]**_

But her story didn't end there... She turned and began a battle with the father of her best friend, even as she was bleeding out.

She begged and pleaded for him to absorb her soul, to destroy all of the knights and avenge her friend.

… The creator pleaded with him not to, that it would just make things more complicated. That nothing good would come from it.

… But he did it anyways.

The girl's soul was devoured... A second wolf-like beast was born, just as the girl fell to the ground. The General ordered everyone to defend themselves, but not to kill anyone. He was bound to his promise, even with a new threat, due to the magic the creator had used.

But... It tore through the knights like butter.

The General was no match at all, despite his LV. He was ripped apart in just three turns, while he couldn't even lay a hand on the beast. Couldn't stop the rampage of the combined anger of human and monster. But we thought... _hoped_ it would end there.

… It didn't.

More soldiers came. The beast killed more. More soldiers came... and the beast killed more. All of them were afraid. Terrified of what was happening. With each kill... The beast took more and more souls into its body. Fueled by anger, rage, and fear... It began to move.

It wanted to destroy the entire kingdom that the noble was from.

… Wa... Wahaha...

That's... That's where it stops.

It never... _We_ never... made it to that point.

The creator... he saw to that. He had... grown tired of all the killing. Of all the fear. Of...

… Of us.

He took the beast apart on his own. Even with the dozen of souls locked within it... He took it apart...

And scattered its dust everywhere across the village.

He then came to us... and told us that humans and monsters would never live in peace again. Humans had began to fear us too much... Fear the power we could have if we ate another human's soul. If we allowed determination to rule us. But …

He also told us that he believed... Believed that one day an angel would return to settle everything. Until then, we would... have to live in a place where humans would forget about us. Where they wouldn't be afraid of us, and where we could live without fear of death once more.

… So he took us up the mountain... and built the barrier.

He made a home here. He made tunnels, a volcano-like place... a place of snow, and even gave us a city to live in. Wahaha... Ol' King Fluffybuns was the designated ruler at that point, too, since his dad died in the war... Calling that whole city 'Home' had got a chuckle out of the creator.

But the creator had a limit to what he could give us... and how much he could do. How much he _wanted_ to do. He gave us life.. Homes... ways to build and live. But...

… But he couldn't quite stand the idea of still living with us, I think. Hm? Why do I think that?

Because he left after he was done building us a city. He was just... gone. No one really knows what happened to him. Hell, he could just be up there still, waiting...

But I think I know what happened to him. I think he used the last bit of his power... to bring a few things back. Hmhm... That dog.. I'm sure you know which one I'm talking about.

He's been following you this whole time, hasn't he?

Wahaha!

That's the dog that made the Battle System! The same one that melted in the creator's arms... Although he's a lot more annoying than I recall! Wahaha!

Hm? What's the dog's name?

Hmm... I don't remember. But the creator, now that's a name you can't forget!

… Something... Something Fox, I think, if you can believe it! Wahaha! He was a canine too!

Anyways, that's the story! You did a real nice job listening to all that!

Eh? You have one more question? What's that?

The Angel's name? Hmm...

…

I don't remember! Wahaha!

* * *

 _ **The End..?**_

 _ **AN: Probably dumb of me to even put this up here, but I wanted to. While I have been... slightly working on my Naruto story, this is something that kept plaguing my mind ever since I got through Undertale... and like most other stories I write, I've already got 2-3 arcs in mind on where this story could go.**_

 _ **But I don't know if I want to continue it.**_

 _ **Anyways, this is my take on what the "War" could have been. I'm sure you guys can guess what character is telling this story too! After all... He was there.**_

 _ **Eh? What's that? You want to know where the creator went? You want to know how the dog came back?**_

 _ **Well... The answer to that is just to know who that Annoying Dog really is.**_

 _ **Anyways, for those interested in what the next arcs were going to be about... Chara, Frisk, sans?, and then an**_ **actual** ** _story with dialog between characters was the idea. Dialog that goes off the previous chapter's stories and emotions; setting scenes so to speak._**

 _ **Anyways! Tell me what you think! I'm not sure this'll get any real results, but... Meh!?**_

 _ **Also... I'm aware that the Overview of the "War" does not actually go this way. It says there's no human casualty... and that the monsters were the ones that retreated with seven magicians sealing away the monsters. But...**_

 _ **Let's just say there's a reason everyone thinks that's the real story. After all.. Who could tell a child it was the original creator who sealed them away? It also stands to reason that the adults would want the kids to**_ **fear _humans, to prevent a battle... That's my take on it, at least!_**


	2. It's you

_**AN: Frisk and Chara will both be considered female for the sake of the story. Mostly because I'm lazy and will mess up saying 'She' instead of 'They' when referring to the two.**_

 _ **I've decided where this story is going to go. What types of resets have been done will be gone over in the story itself, but I'll tell anyone that asks!**_

* * *

 _ **[Exit]**_

Frisk gave Gerson a goodbye wave, leaving the old turtle to reminisce on his own. She bit into the crab shaped apple he gave her as she walked, humming quietly to herself as she reached the small pond in front of Napstablook and Undyne's houses... Well, the remainder of Undyne's house.

Nothing lives there but fire now.

She sat down beside the pond with her legs crossed, staring blankly into the water, biting into her apple again. The story Gerson told her had been interesting, sure, but...

"*A total waste of time." A voice beside Frisk announced, speaking up as if it had read Frisk's mind.

Which it did, in a way.

Frisk glanced to her right, not that anyone watching could tell with her eyes being almost closed, and stared at the figure floating just a few inches away with their transparent body letting Frisk see through them rather clearly. Such a scene wouldn't be too uncommon, given that Napstablook who lived nearby was a ghost and could float around at will. But Napstablook wouldn't approach anyone, even Frisk, without being invited to. He was just too shy!

Not only that, but unlike Napstablook, this "ghost" didn't have the look of a white sheet with a face on it. No, this one was a small girl that looked rather similar to Frisk herself, but with notable differences. Frisk's hair was a little longer in the front, hiding more of her forehead, and was a dark brown color while the other girl's was more of an auburn.

The sweaters they both wore were also slightly different, with Frisk wearing a blue one with two purple stripes, while the ghost was wearing a green one with a single yellow stripe. Their pants were also different, with Frisk's looking more like it was part of the sweater she wore while the other girl's was a dark brown color, matching the shoes they both wore.

The biggest difference, and the first anyone would note, would be their eyes and skin. Frisk's skin was a bit tan, due to their days in the sun until recently, while the others was pale. Frisk also constantly squinted, leaving her brown eyes barely open to hide them from view but not enough to blind her. But the other...

Was staring at Frisk with an annoyed expression now, her bright red eyes shining while her cheeks, which were also tinted a soft red, began to puff up slightly in annoyance as Frisk stared at her.

"*You're irritating me. Stop observing me so closely." She snapped out, putting her back to Frisk now while laying on her side in the air. Doing so caused her to miss the amused smile on the others face, though she growled in annoyance from the feeling of the other girl still staring at her back.

This girl was named Chara, the first human to have fallen into the underground since the "Creator", if Gerson's story was to believed, put them in here. She had been adopted by the King and Queen of the underground and became a loved sibling to the Prince. But...

Things happened.

Frisk still wasn't too sure on the details, even though she had seen the video tapes down in Alphy's lab and heard the story from the New Home monsters. But none of them really knew the reason of _why_ Chara and Asriel did all that. Or at the very least, why they thought it was a good idea.

But that didn't really matter anymore. Not since Chara had become nothing more than a ghost connected to Frisk's soul.

* * *

To Frisk, Chara had been a source of amusement... and almost despair. When Frisk first came to the underground herself, there hadn't been much. She was lost, scared, and nearly killed by a talking flower until Toriel came to rescue her. But...

Frisk couldn't read the monster's runes on the walls, yet she found the words came to her easily, as if they were being spoken out loud. Monsters that attacked her, or merely came up to say hello, started the Battle System instantly. In that, Frisk could see words appearing in front of her, saying things like:

"*Froggit hopped close!"

It had been strange, but she initially passed it off as just another part of the underground. But then more thoughts began to pop into her head, especially when it came to Toriel's house. Comments on how cool the toys were in the room Toriel gave her, but how she didn't find them interesting... Which had been true. But then there was the shout of "*It's you!" when staring at a mirror.

That had been the first big hint that someone, or something, was with her.

But Frisk paid it no mind. The voice had been rather pleasant overall and was mostly helping with things Frisk couldn't understand herself. Monster runes were a lot different than what she was used to, and she couldn't really read human writing that well anyways. It helped a lot.

Over time, Frisk began to take the voice a bit for granted as she walked around, staring at each thing until something was said. Sometimes nothing could be said and Frisk accepted that. But after awhile, her attitude seemed to irritate the voice as it snapped "*You've already heard this!" after Frisk tried to re-do some of the voice's lines.

That settled the girl down and she quietly apologized, which seemed to startle the owner of the voice as she heard a soft gasp, followed by: "*You... can hear me? I thought I was just talking to myself.. For the most part!" Frisk had tilted her head at that, turning to look at the voice's source.

"I can hear you. But I can't see you _."_ She had quietly admitted, sadness in her voice, though her face remained the same neutral expression. There was silence for a few moments and then...

"*Well, that's okay. As long as you can hear me, partner. Now let's get going!" A nod, followed by a gulp as they descended down the stairs...

To fight Toriel, though they didn't know it at the time. The voice didn't say much, but her voice had a bitter tone to it as she made observations about Toriel.

"*Toriel prepares a magical attack. *Toriel is acting aloof..." It had been a little distracting, but nothing more than the gasp of anger when Toriel's large attack had hit Frisk dead on. She had apparently been surprised by how much damage it did to Frisk's soul. "*What! Dodge it! If you get hit again, you'll..!"

But she couldn't. She just wasn't good enough at dodging yet.

The flames tore away at her soul and shattered it, giving her only time to see Toriel's surprised and devastated expression before everything went black. Frisk could hear the voice's call, telling her to stay determined... To come back.

"*Please! I don't want to be alone again!"

 _ **[Reset?] [*Yes] [No]**_

Everything had become white, and then... She woke up on a bed of golden flowers, staring blankly up at the hole she had originally fallen through. But this time, there was no voice to greet her. Flowey didn't even appear, though Toriel did. Seeing the woman again, acting as if they had never met, had been... confusing, to say the least.

But it was after Toriel left that the greatest mistake happened...

Without the voice to guide her, Frisk was left in the dark even in places she had already been. She didn't understand the runes and her memory was slightly fuzzy, but she did know that there was no point in waiting for Toriel. It took too long for her to come back.

So she pressed forward, determined to make it to the house on her own... When a Froggit jumped at her, its eyes narrowed in a dangerous manner. Out of instinct to protect herself, Frisk held the stick up in its way, which caused the Froggit to jump right onto it, just as the Battle System took hold. The System took Frisk's action as an attack, and destroyed the monster easily.

Her LV increased... and dust coated her hands.

But Frisk wasn't a killer, and it was a similar Froggit to the one she had complimented the last time she had been through the Ruins. The idea of hurting her potential friend left her stunned and she could only stare at the dust covered stick with her eyes wide open for once.

"*You got 3 EXP. You got 2 GOLD!" A voice suddenly shouted, causing Frisk to jump as she stared up in alarm. But unlike before, the voice had a body to go along with it, and Frisk's eyes met two glowing red eyes and a large grinning face who was staring down at the stick almost... proudly. "*Not bad, partner. That stupid Froggit had it coming."

Frisk could only continue to stare, causing her new 'partner' to arch her eyebrow up in confusion. "*What's up? You look like you've... seen a ghost~" A soft giggle escaped both of them despite the situation and Frisk couldn't help but relax slightly, staring up at the girl, who was now regarding Frisk curiously after the humor had passed. "*What? Did you miss me that much? Sorry I wasn't talking but..."

"I can see you." Frisk muttered, staring still as her eyes slowly fell back into their almost closed position. "But... why? Is it because I..?" A glance at the dust was all that was needed for the floating girl to shrug, crossing her arms.

"*No clue, partner, but I'm glad you can see me. But now that you've got some dust on you... Let's get more." Frisk's eyes widened again at the suggestion, staring and shaking her head. The ghost just grinned, waving her hand dismissively. "*It's not a big deal. Come on, partner! These monsters keep trying to hurt you, so hurt them back. If your LV increases enough, then..."

"I can't." Frisk interrupted, shaking slightly as she stared down at the still dusty stick. "I can't... hurt them. I... I don't want to... kill anyone."

"*Even Toriel?" The girl hissed, causing Frisk to shake slightly while the two red eyes stared down at her in irritation... Though it was strangely not directed at Frisk herself. "*That idiot killed you, partner. Didn't you hear that flower? It's kill or be killed down here. No one is going to hesitate to kill you. So kill them first. Destroy all of them to protect yourself."

Silence.

The girl clicked her tongue loudly, staring down at Frisk in anger as she sat in the middle of the air. "*It's too late to go back now. You already killed one. What's a few more? Especially Toriel." Silence. "*You're really getting on my nerves, partner." The ghost muttered, one eye closed as she stared down at the silent girl.

After a few moments, Frisk looked up, her lips tilted down in a sad frown before she spoke. "Frisk... My name is... Frisk." The ghost blinked at the sudden introduction and shrugged, holding her hand out.

"*My name is Chara. Ready to do it my way, Frisk?" Frisk shook her head, but grabbed Chara's hand regardless, surprising both of them when their hands just slid through each other. After a moment, Chara shrugged, pulling her hand back. "*I think I need to eat more. I'm less than just skin and bones now!" A cocky grin covered her face as Frisk giggled into her hands from the bad joke.

But Frisk's amusement died down as she glanced at the stick again, shaking her head. "I can't... do it your way, though... Chara. I don't want to hurt anyone. But... how did I come back here? I already..."

"*You were determined to live." Chara stated, starting to float around Frisk on her back. "*You've got a soul like I do, one that persists. But unlike me, you've got a body. I don't know why I'm ghosting you right now, or if I can do anything besides talk to you, but... You can go back. You can reset everything you want, and if you're determined, you can even save or load."

"Save...? Load?" Frisk stared blankly at the floating girl, not sure what the terms meant. But the idea behind it she understood. Hesitantly, the human picked up the stick, staring down at it and slowly starting to turn the sharp, and dusty, tip towards her neck. Her body was shaking as she did, and her teeth were biting down onto her lip hard.

But before she could even gather the determination to do it, a hand suddenly shot out and slapped the stick away. Alarmed, Frisk's eyes snapped open as she looked around for the source, only to find two red eyes glaring down at her just inches away.

"*You really are an idiot!" Chara shouted, making Frisk stumble backwards in surprise. Chara's face was twisted into an angry scowl and her eyes were shining with a red light, which Frisk found herself unable to look away from. "*You don't have to kill yourself, idiot! Just go back! Be determined! Death is just an automatic reset for accidents.. You're not supposed to..." Her scowl faded as she stared down at the trembling Frisk, who stared in confusion as Chara got a somber expression. "*To... kill yourself."

Frisk could _feel_ the depression coming out of Chara's soul, as if it was coming out of her own. Hesitantly, she wrapped her arms around the floating girl's waist, surprising both of them when the action worked. Chara slowly returned the action, lowering herself down so they were at the correct height, which was surprisingly the same.

After a few moments, the two separated and Frisk sniffed, rubbing at the tear marks that had slid down her cheeks. Chara gave her an amused smirk as she pulled away, muttering "*Crybaby." Frisk just pouted at that, making Chara snicker to herself as she looked away.

Frisk stared for a moment, asking "How come we could touch those times?"

Chara just shrugged her shoulders, reaching out and watching as her hand slid through Frisk's shoulder, causing the girl to shiver slightly. After a moment, she tried again with her hand resting on top of it now, but Frisk leaned into its warmth this time.

"*I think it's because I really want to touch you. I'm determined. It's a strong power." Chara shrugged slightly, watching Frisk nod in acceptance. "*I don't know if that's how it really works. I haven't been a ghost since you showed up."

Frisk nodded again, biting her lip. "S... So uhm, do I just... think about going back? To... Load?" Chara nodded, holding her finger up with her eyes closing, getting a 'I'm explaining something' look on her face. Frisk couldn't help but smile at it.

Unable to see the amused look, Chara didn't react as she spoke,"*Loading and saving are based on your determination. Any time you feel a burst of determination, you can 'Save' and if you focus on it, you can return to that point of determination. You'll retain any memories you had of the point past your Save... but no one else will... Should, at least." Chara opened one eye up, missing Frisk's amused smile that fell off her face quickly when Chara's eye began to open. "*You get that?"

Nodding, Frisk quickly asked her next question. "How do you know so much about it? Did you have it when you uhm... weren't a ghost?" Frisk squirmed slightly at the question, while Chara rolled her eyes, frowning as she crossed her arms.

"*I didn't. I wasn't... determined enough." The child admitted, starting to float upwards once more so she was hovering a few inches off the ground. There was a sad look in her eyes that was replaced with a thoughtful one as she rubbed her chin, pretending to sit on an invisible chair in the air. "*I'm not sure how I know about it. I definitely don't recall ever using it... What about you? Have you done anything like that before?"

Frisk frowned at Chara's inquiring gaze, shaking her head slightly. "N... Not since I came down here..."

Chara nodded, humming softly before she shrugged her shoulders. "*Oh well. We'll figure it out later, partner. For now, focus on returning if you really want to bring this thing back. I'll..." She sighed, rubbing the back of her head. "*We'll try it your way for awhile, but don't say I didn't warn you. Toriel is just going to kill you again, I bet." Frisk frowned at Chara's words, her eyes closing completely now instead of remaining slightly open.

"I'll dodge. I won't fight, but I'll win..." Frisk's hands clenched tightly and Chara watched curiously as a red light shined around them both...

 _ **[Load?] [*Yes] [No]**_

Before everything went white, and they woke up beside each other on a golden flower bed.

This time, however, Chara remained in view, but neither of the children questioned it. Instead, they had traveled straight into the ruins, once again not meeting Flowey, and were greeted by the traveling Toriel. Once again, they went through the puzzles. No monster died in their wake, not with Chara warning Frisk anytime a monster was nearby, even if she didn't want to.

("*When it's my turn, we're killing that rock." "No!")

And once again, they found themselves standing in front of Toriel. But this time... was different. Frisk was filled with _Determination_ to win without fighting... To dodge everything Toriel tossed at her. To try and talk their way out of it.

("*You thought about telling Toriel she killed you... But that's creepy.")

The battle had, eventually, ended with Frisk's victory. But the tearful separation from their "mother" left both children with frowns on their faces as they made their way through the door with no company but each other.

"*You got through, but was it worth it? She was sad and now she's alone again... Plus, you never got revenge for her killing you." Chara questioned, but with no anger in her voice. It was merely a morbid curiosity.

Frisk shook her head slightly, frowning. "Fighting to the death like that... wouldn't solve anything. She would have been even more heart broken if we struck her like that... I don't hate her. That death was my fault... I should have been faster." Chara scoffed slightly but shrugged in acceptance, sighing.

"*We're doing it your way, partner. I won't try to make you kill anything."

And she didn't. Despite all the taunts, all the threatening monsters that Frisk faced, and all of the times Frisk had nearly got herself killed... She didn't once say to kill anything.

At least until they got to the True Lab in Alphy's place.

("*Oh my god Frisk, what the hell is that? Kill it! Kill it before it reaches you! Oh my god, it's … It's so disgusting and what the hell does 'Join the fun' mean? Kill it!")

Frisk forgave her for that one. The place had been absolutely terrifying, after all, and Frisk had almost been tempted to let Chara win that little battle... Until they figured out that all of the monsters were just some of the monsters they had already encountered fused together. That allowed Frisk to talk to them, fixing the problems with flexing and a stick. She had encountered all of those monsters before, after all.

Except the Memory Heads, as Alphys called them, which reacted to just her cellphone and didn't look similar to anything the children had encountered thus far. They decided to just ignore that one, especially when they couldn't find it outside when Alphys released all the monsters to their families.

But their trips together had taught Chara that there was more than just "Kill or be killed", especially when they fought Asriel together in his true form with six human souls. Despite all his power, the two had refused to give up and held each other closely with each attack he threw their way. The combined force of their _Determination_ made it impossible for Asriel to defeat them.

Even when they could barely move, they still stood and faced the towering boss monster. Determined to save him and everyone else... and their final attack, if it could even be called that, was the two of them holding hands and hugging Asriel as hard as they could.

Chara had not thought it would work. That Frisk could get by without hurting anyone, but she did. _They_ did. While Chara had not spoken to anyone but Frisk, even though Asriel seemed _aware_ of her presence, she felt like she had been part of the adventure. Like she had helped Frisk complete their goal.

With Asriel's help, they broke the barrier. The monsters could be free at any moment, and all of Frisk's friends were just waiting for her to return to them. She had left saying there were a few people she wanted to say goodbye to, and possibly ask a couple to come with them to the surface as part of the group that would be the first set of monsters to meet a human town since they were sealed away.

They could even live with Toriel together, play with Papyrus and Undyne any time they want. To the lonely children, who had mostly just each other to confine in despite their many friends, it was like a dream come true. For Frisk, a real family, and for Chara... a second chance. But...

Their hope had been dashed upon the human's first meeting with monsters. A true disaster.

So they loaded to before they left... and now they were merely waiting. Thinking of what to do.

What now?

("*Despite everything... It's still you.")

* * *

 _ **AN: Chapter End.**_

 _ **Skipped around a bit and left a lot of things vague on purpose, to explain later, but this is to narrow down a few things**_ **and** ** _make it so I don't end up just repeating myself. But I'm planning on this being a rather... actiony-type of story, but I don't want to spoil anything._**

 _ **The Hurt/Comfort tag will be part of it, too, but not a major point like Adventure will be, I think. I'm mostly making up a few things as I go along, namely the overall details, so tell me if I miss anything.**_

 _ **Remember that the first chapter goes over the War's details, or at least a vague sense of them, so don't tell me I'm wrong about that! It's another AU!**_

 _ **Also, if it wasn't clear, there has not been a Genocide run in this story. Not by this Chara. But that doesn't mean there hasn't been more resets than I have said already..!**_

 _ **Anyways, tell me what you think. And sorry to anyone who was waiting for an update on my other story! It's coming, I think, but I think it's better to just write what I feel like writing instead of making myself focus on something else.**_


	3. Past, Present, Future

_**AN: This is a dialog heavy chapter that hints towards past and future events. Next chapter is probably going to be similar, but we'll get to the action sooner or later. I'll probably need to slow down a bit to research monster attacks, though. Anyways...**_

* * *

Frisk stared blankly into the water in front of her, the crab apple eaten completely now. Her reflection moved slowly, though no reflection came into view as Chara floated over, her chin resting on Frisk's shoulder while the rest of her body floated in the air.

"*Despite everything, it's still..."

"Us." Frisk interrupted, smiling at Chara's annoyed expression that she could see out of the corner of her eye.

"*Don't interrupt my narrations." The red eyed girl scolded, earning a slight chuckle from her partner. Sighing, Chara played with the ends of Frisk's soft brown hair. "*So what now, partner? I mean, we know what happens... after we go up there. They..."

"I know." Frisk slightly shook her head, starting to slide the small shoes she wore off. Chara went silent as Frisk dipped her dirt covered feet into the water, moving them back and forth slowly in the cool pond. "We need to do something. Not to mention... Asriel is..." The pacifist frowned, an action mirrored by her partner as she floated down, placing her own feet into the water.

"*Gone." Chara finished, her frown becoming deeper while she moved her feet back and forth. She could _feel_ the cold chill of the water, but none of it moved with her. She was just passing through it. She sighed, shaking her head. "*I don't know where he went... He should still have a lot of power, right?"

Frisk nodded in agreement, wiggling her feet around in the water. Asriel, or Flowey as he used to be called, had used all the souls to break the barrier... But none of the souls came back except the souls of the monsters he had absorbed before. After Frisk and Chara had both worked together to stop his rampage, he had turned back into his child form and disappeared after sharing another hug with the two.

Though he did not react to Chara's arms.

But it was unlikely the child, being so powerful after all, would just disappear like that. There was no dust, which indicated to the two that it was likely he had just teleported away. Trying to get away from everyone. But...

"*We should find him." Frisk arched her eyebrow a bit at Chara's words, but nodded her agreement regardless.

"I think so too, but... We need to figure out what to do next, too. Even if we find him then..."

"*It won't mean anything if we can't go up to the surface safely." Frisk nodded, smiling over at Chara with her eyes slightly more open than they usually wore, revealing the shiny brown orbs. Chara's already red cheeks became darker at the sight as Frisk regarded her quietly.

If Frisk noticed Chara's blush, it was ignored as she spoke. "Always finishing my thoughts. We're so close I feel like we're sharing a brain." To emphasize her statement, the girl leaned onto Chara's ghostly body, not phasing through it due to her determination to touch the other girl. She grinned as their heads pressed together, though it didn't cause Chara to shift even slightly in the air from Frisk's touch.

But the red on the floating girl's cheeks grew darker and she leaned a bit away, huffing. "*Sorry for getting _ahead_ of you." Frisk giggled at the joke, her smile being mirrored on Chara's soon after. The humor faded quickly as Chara sighed, looking down into the water. "*What are we going to do, partner?"

Frisk frowned at the question, looking down herself as she kicked her feet a bit. "I don't know. If it wasn't for that system, then none of that would have happened, but monsters just... start the battle without meaning to..." She hummed softly, lifting one leg out of the water and staring up at her foot. "Maybe it's because of how they're made of magic..?"

"*That old turtle did say you just need a little magic to link two souls together." Chara reminded, waving her finger slightly in the air. "*Monsters probably started doing it out of instinct and it became sort of a game to them. How they approach people, or something." Frisk nodded in agreement, straightening up as she started to stand.

A stray thought entered the girl's mind as she watched her feet slide up out of the water and she turned towards her 'partner' with her usual neutral expression. "Have we started a fight with anyone? Like... started the Battle System thing ourselves?"

Chara arched her eyebrow up at Frisk, shrugging as she pulled her feet out of the water as well. Unlike Frisk, however, no water was pulled with her so she she didn't bother shaking her leg around.

"*You haven't, that I can think of. Toriel started that one in the Ruins with the Dummy. All the others have been actual monsters, though." The red eyed girl shrugged, starting to float again in the air. "*You could try." She pointed out, flipping so she was laying on her back with her body moving slowly up and down.

Frisk shook her head, kicking her feet a bit to get the water off. "I don't know how to do magic." She paused, standing on one foot as she looked over at Chara, who began to spin in the air to amuse herself. "What about you, Chara?"

Chara blinked, pausing in her spin, her body still mid-twist so she was staring awkwardly over her shoulder towards Frisk. "*Huh?"

"Can you use magic?" Frisk clarified, watching Chara twist her body to a proper sitting position... in the air. A frown was on her face as she stared at Frisk who had a patient smile on her face, waiting for Chara's answer. The ghostly girl usually took a bit to answer direct questions, though it seems she started to trust Frisk more as their adventure went on, causing her to answer quicker.

With a resigned sigh, Chara nodded her head. "*... A little." Chara muttered, scratching her cheek. "*M... Toriel... taught me." Frisk kept the frown off her face at Chara's tone, full of bitterness and distrust for the Queen of Monsters. Ever since she had killed Frisk that one time, and even after Toriel's attack against Asgore to prevent him from attacking them for a second time, Chara still did not like the woman.

At least not enough to call her Mom, again.

But Frisk ignored it. That was a subject for another time.

"What can you do?" She asked her partner with interest, smiling kindly. Chara just shrugged slightly, shaking her head right after.

"*In my current form? Not much. I tried already. I'd... probably need to control your body a bit to use anything." Chara waved her hand dismissively, looking to the side while Frisk merely nodded in acceptance, a smile on her face as she easily read what Chara was thinking.

"You know I don't mind. You just have to ask." Chara flinched slightly, but kept her gaze to the side until she felt Frisk's hand reach up and rest on her own. Their eyes met and Chara shivered as she saw Frisk's warm smile, though she kept their eyes locked as Frisk spoke. "I trust you."

The auburn haired girl flinched from her partner's words and pulled away, crossing her arms with an irritated look on her face. "*You really shouldn't. Not after what I did to Asriel..." Frisk shook her head slightly, turning away with a smile.

"You've already apologized for that... and you helped Asriel get back. I think you've done enough." When Chara didn't respond, Frisk turned and spread her arms wide with a smile on her face, though her eyes remained only slightly open. "Come on now. Let's give it a shot."

The ghost sighed and shrugged, floating down so she was 'touching' the ground before she walked _into_ Frisk's body. This caused both to shake slightly as their Souls, which were already fairly close together in Frisk's body, overlapped completely. A slightly broken, yet very bright, red heart covered a pale white heart that accepted it easily. They pulsed together, connecting the two as close as they could be.

In a moment, Frisk's left eye was wide open and glowing red, while her cheeks got a slightly red tint to them. She took a moment to look around, waving her arms and holding them above her head for a moment. Leaning her body backwards in a stretch, the girl chuckled softly before straightening herself back up.

"Back in the saddle." She said out loud, clenching her fists, her voice being noticeably huskier than before. There was also more energy to her words and they came out louder than usual, since Frisk normally kept a low, almost whispering, voice in most conversations, especially with Chara.

" _*It's been awhile since we did this. It feels nice to sit in the narrator's chair once and awhile... I was in control when we fought Asriel."_ Frisk whispered from the body's mind, letting Chara control a majority of the body she usually walked around in. Chara, who controlled everything but the right eye now which remained carefully almost closed like always, just scoffed at Frisk's words.

"Don't get food on my damn chair." She joked, not bothering to simply speak in her head since no one was around. She also ignored the little _'Oh, in the swear jar'_ Frisk muttered in her mind as she experimentally moved her arms around. "But yeah, we haven't done this since that third fight with Undyne... At least not with me in control." A wistful expression came onto her face, recalling how stressed Frisk had been to react to all those spears flying at her...

They had first thought of it during the bridge attack, since Chara was more _aware_ of the where the spears were going to come from, while Frisk was just better at dodging them. The real battle with Undyne had been... difficult. One death came from before the battle even truly began, while the other had been from Undyne's brutal assault of spears and Frisk's attempts to make her stop fighting, instead of just running away.

The third fight was completed with Chara's help. With the two of them moving the shield to block every spear the other didn't notice, they managed to get through with only a slight scrape on their souls. Though Chara had nearly yelled Frisk's ear off when she decided to give Undyne a cup of water from a water cooler when they finally made it into Hotlands. Even if they didn't take much damage, having to fight the 'Hero' so much had left both of them exhausted.

Thankfully Undyne just left after that, an uncertain look on her face after being "rescued" by the human she was chasing. Chara couldn't help but make fun of her for that, though Undyne remained oblivious since only Frisk could hear her.

Shaking her head to clear her memories, Chara placed her hands on her hips with an annoyed frown on her, or rather Frisk's, face. "Hey! Stop leaving that eye squinted like that. I can't see."

" _*I'll share my awareness, don't worry about it._ " Frisk responded, her soul glowing faintly under Chara's own. The increase in their connection allowed Chara to "see" what Frisk saw, though the eye remained under Frisk's control. Despite the eye being almost closed, it felt like she could see _everything_ around herself to a certain extent. The front was the only part that had perfect vision, causing Chara to click her tongue in annoyance.

"I don't understand how you do that. What are you, some kind of monk?" Frisk giggled at the question as Chara began to pull on the discarded shoes again, grumbling about having to deal with the still slightly damp skin.

" _*I grew up in a city and ran around in a forest a lot... Seeing things there doesn't help, so I tried to focus on everything around me at once so I wouldn't get lost."_ She explained, but quickly changed the subject as both of them were guilty of doing; neither enjoying talking about what they did before they climbed the mountain. _"*But come on! Let's see some magic. I want to see what you can do."_

"Fine, fine..." She muttered, rolling her red eye a bit as she raised her left arm, holding her palm out towards the wall nearby. The garbage dump's entrance was near the wall she was pointing at, and after a moment of waiting, both of the girls could feel hot magic rolling up _their_ arm, making an orb of flame hover slightly outside their palm.

" _*You gather magic for a powerful attack! The flames heat the air..!"_ Frisk narrated, excitement bubbling in her voice, causing Chara to smirk in amusement as her eye rolled, though she also shared Frisk's excitement. It had been a long time since she used any magic of her own.

"Yeah, yeah. This is the basic thing she taught me..." The girl explained, letting the fire ball fly out and hit the old stone with a loud crash, though the flames quickly disappeared and left nothing but a black mark on the rock to show it had been struck.

" _*Your attack flies free! It leaves a burn mark on the rocks. You're happy about this, but the rocks seem a little... heated!"_ Frisk joked, causing Chara to snicker a bit. _"*What else can you do?"_ She asked curiously, to which Chara shrugged at despite Frisk being in her head.

"Dunno. Asgore taught me a lot of battle enhancements, but they only came in handy when I was chasing Asriel..." A faint sadness was in Chara's voice as she remembered using a Speed Enhancement spell to chase Asriel down, and she smiled slightly as she recalled tackling him into a bed of leaves... She shook the memory away as she "felt" Frisk's arms wrap around her from behind, or at least the impression of it from their souls touching. She let Frisk feel her gratitude, but didn't say anything about it out loud. "I never really had a point to use most of the magic I learned. With the Battle System and all..."

" _*Well... Try stuff now. I don't mind. But..."_ The girl paused as Chara began to stretch again, leaning over to touch her toes. _"*Hm... What if we..._ didn't _use the Battle System?"_ There was a curious tone to her voice, but Chara only arched her eyebrow and continued stretching, waiting for Frisk to explain what she meant. _"*Well, I mean... The monsters always start the fight, but the only way to stop it is to Spare or Flee without hurting them... But we can fight without using it, can't we? Maybe there's a way to stop the Battle System without running from the fight."_

Chara paused in her stretching, frowning as she thought over Frisk's suggestion. "That's... possible. But what would that solve? If anything, wouldn't that just make it easier to... hurt everyone?" Chara could feel Frisk shaking her head, as best as a soul could do, and rolled her eye, starting to make her way down towards the Garbage Dump as Frisk spoke.

" _*No, see. I think... so I could be wrong, but I think that the Battle System is more dangerous for monsters. Monster's bodies are made of magic, but it's their soul that needs to be defended the most. The Battle System makes souls fight, though, and it's one of the ways Monsters get the jump on humans because the Battle System favors magic stuff..."_

Chara nodded, digging through a pile of garbage slowly, looking for any hidden treasures while she talked to Frisk. "Right, like Undyne's spears, or Asgore's flame. Dumb Asgore just didn't move when we attacked him with that frying pan, while we had to dodge a bunch of fire." Her face fell at the memory, having not enjoyed having to fight her _other_ adoptive parent who actually _tried_ to kill them. He didn't go down without a fight, though, unlike Toriel who was ready to give up after awhile.

" _*I don't think he could."_ Frisk admitted, interrupting Chara's bitter memories. _"*I think we'll have to ask Gerson or someone, but I think it takes a lot of magic to dodge attacks... It's either something we can just_ do _because we're human, or maybe the Battle System just locks the monsters in place... in order to make up for how many attacks they can send out."_

Chara raised her eyebrow again, tossing a half eaten donut to the side along with a half eaten bicycle ( _'Wouldn't that just make it a unicycle?')._ "You talk a lot when you're in the narrator chair, huh?" The red eyed girl teased, grinning as she felt Frisk's embarrassed blush.

" _*It'... It's just an interesting subject! Plus... I don't have to use my voice."_ The last bit was said in a soft whisper, but Chara pretended not to "hear" it as she pushed her arm into the garbage pile, only to recoil with a shout.

"Shit! Ow!" She yelled, waving her hand around with a growl as she stared at her finger which was being held tightly by a crab.

" _*That's another in the swear jar... and stop wounding my body!"_ Frisk shouted back, though with only worry in her voice rather than anger, watching Chara glare at the crab which actually caused the small creature to let go and quickly scurry off.

"Oh hush it." She snapped back, huffing as she stared at the slight darker skin tone to her finger and the cut along the top. She sighed, holding her other hand up to the cut and staring intently at it.

Frisk, feeling the magic starting to flow from her soul and through her body, grinned and quickly spoke up. _"*You gather magic once more! Determination flows around you..!"_

"It's healing magic, Frisk."

" _*... Determination. Flows. Around. You! Don't correct my narrations~"_ Frisk playfully replied, getting a giggle from the previous 'narrator'. Both watched quietly as the wound slowly sealed shut with the red aura surrounding the wounded finger, restoring its color and closing the wound, though the blood remained out until Chara wiped it off onto a nearby cloth on the garbage pile.

Looking around the Garbage Dump for a moment, Chara shook her head and turned around, heading back towards the pond. "Anyways... What do you want to do? Talk to that turtle again? Also... Did those spells drain you at all? They used to make me feel a bit tired."

Frisk shrugged slightly on the inside, her head tilting side to side. _"*I'm not sure what to do... And I don't feel tired. I could feel you taking the energy, but it didn't feel tiring or anything."_

Chara smirked a little, feeling a bit proud of her partner's strength. Chara felt like she was better in the battle sense, something they only practiced against Flowey/Asriel and Asgore... But Frisk was way better at dodging, and it seemed like she had large supply for magic as well. But then Chara was the only one of the two who had experience with actually casting the magic...

She chuckled to herself, getting a curious "feeling" from Frisk. _"*What's up?"_ She questioned, despite the two having a shared "mind space', Frisk usually didn't read Chara's thoughts, finding it to be rude. Chara, on the other hand, used the link to tease Frisk anytime she wanted, such as when they met the Monster Kid and how Frisk thought about how cute he was. Oh how much Frisk blushed...

But right now they weren't reading the others mind at all, so Frisk's curiosity was bubbling. Chara just chuckled at the feeling, walking back towards Gerson's shop with her arms sliding into the pockets of the shorts.

"Oh nothing. Just thinking about how we're the perfect team, partner." Frisk smiled, letting Chara feel the happiness flow through her, which the girl returned with her own smile. She chuckled softly as she stood outside of Gerson's store, her eye flashing red. "Now... My perfect partner... Let's find our next path." Frisk smiled, nodding quickly.

" _*You feel two hearts beating as one. You are filled with Determination!"_

 _ **[Save?] [*Yes] [No]**_

* * *

 _ **AN: Chapter End. Tell me what you think.**_

 _ **This chapter was mostly just a filler, stating their relationship clearly and giving hints on past / future things.**_

 _ **Also, if you're wondering why Frisk's * chat looks different than Chara's, it's because Frisk's is coming directly into their mind. Chara, on the other hand, has a ghostly body she can use and speak out loud. Frisk doesn't have that, because her soul is tied into her body. She can't go ghost.**_

 _ **I'm also in a bit of a stump to what I can do with Chara and Frisk's "said/stated" stuff. To explain what I mean:**_

 _ **Sometimes I'll say "The red eyed girl stated" when it's Chara speaking, instead of just a simple "Chara said." That's how I prefer to write dialog, so it doesn't feel reptitive. But I don't know what to call those two!**_

 _ **Frisk has pacifist, brown eyed, brown hair... Tan?**_

 _ **Chara has ..?, red eyed, auburn hair, red cheeks...**_

 _ **I dunno. They just don't have enough titles that I'm used to. Meh, I'll work around it. Hopefully no one else minds the constant use of Frisk and Chara!**_


	4. Broken Or Fixed?

_**Edited Chapter: Decided to get rid of the long A/N at the start for the sake of future readers. I've also decided where the plot is going, so the message was a moot point.**_

 _ **Still going to leave the Trivia down at the bottom, so enjoy!**_

"Talking is like this."

" _Thoughts are like this." Or_ ' _This'_

 _Text is just like this._

 **[System Actions] → [Are like this]**

"*Narrator Talk is like this." _"*But like this if it's from the mind state."_

 _ **[Talk] → [Battle System Rules]**_

* * *

Mm? You wanna know 'bout the Battle System's rules? Well, that's a bit difficult... I think I've got a paper for it around here somewhere. Let me check...

Ah, here it is! Under my crab apple bag! Wahaha~ Go ahead and read it!

" _*You got the Rule Page!"_

* * *

 _ **[Item - Rule Page → Use]**_

Chara and Frisk read over the paper Gerson gave them outside the shop, skimming over the basics as they got through them. Fighting, Acting, Items, and Mercy being selectable, human souls being able to move around to dodge.. All things they knew. But then they got to the mid point of the page, where it got into more detail.

 _Magic is required to start it. Equipped items and the power of the Soul affect ATK and DEF. EXP to increase LV is gained through killing the opponent. GOLD is gained based on the actions taken and the loser's own GOLD. Magic can be used freely in the Battle System; Monsters cannot dodge without the use of Magic. Magic attacks can be as long as the caster wishes. Physical attacks are determined by the weapon used. Any number of souls can be connected to a single battle, and others can "invade" a battle on either side. Still turn based, the one challenged always goes first._

" _*Well, that explains Muffet's pet and how Mom stopped that Froggit from attacking us, and why we're always first."_ Frisk pointed out, earning a slight nod from Chara who was still in control.

"Yeah, but look at this part." She pointed down to an even lower point, where it got into details about how Fight damage was calculated.

 _ATK and DEF are taken into account, but mostly the power of the SOUL. A Monster's soul is weak to malice and a desire to kill. A human's soul is weak to Karma. The higher the LV, the stronger the human hits, but they take damage over time from just the slightest touch. Either type of soul can take extreme damage if damaged while using the SPARE option. If more than one linked soul uses the SPARE option, all souls using it are removed from the battle peacefully once all other turns have gone once._

Chara felt Frisk shiver as they read over the page, staring at the line just below the paragraph they read.

 _A monster using SPARE being attacked with FIGHT with the intent to kill... will have their body and soul torn apart. A human soul... could survive, depending on the attack._

The, normally, ghostly child felt herself shiver as well, memories of arrows flying into Asriel's back after he had absorbed her human soul so many years ago.. The trip up to the surface had left the two with nothing but hatred and wounds, and ultimately Asriel's demise from the amount of malice and hatred used against him. Even though he did nothing to them, they desired his death, and even with Chara screaming at him to kill them all for what they had done, he refused.

In the past, such memories would have sent rage tearing through her, and the girl knew she would take the idea of killing those that wronged them, including Asriel, to heart. But now...

"This is dumb." She muttered, turning the page to look at the back side. She clicked her tongue, seeing there was just a single paragraph on it. "Is there nothing here about how to stop monsters from being killed like that?" She sighed, not bothering to read the paragraph and starting to toss the page away.

" _*Wait! Look at this one."_ Frisk yelled out, forcing the body's hand to hold onto the paper, pulling it in front of their face. Chara frowned, reading over it with a scowl on Frisk's normally neutral face.

 _Damage calculations are only taken inside the Battle System, due to it being two souls against each other. It is meant to balance power between the two races. However, Monster's bodies are only weak to the power of the soul and emotions... as of now. Physical attacks outside the Battle System depend on the monster and the attack itself. Along with this, any attack made outside the Battle System without the intent to kill cannot directly harm a monster's soul without intending to. But in the Battle System, a Monster's soul has nothing to shield it from the attack._

Chara stared blankly at the page, waving it around slightly. "I don't get it." She shrugged, tossing the page to the side while Frisk sighed with an amused smile.

" _*From what I get, if we fight_ outside _the Battle System... without the intent to really kill a monster, it won't cause them to die."_ The brown haired girl explained, waving her finger side to side, which Chara could only feel since Frisk was still merely a spirit inside her. _"*I know you're thinking 'what does that solve?' but think about it! If the monsters didn't start a soul battle, how would a human? And if their soul isn't damaged directly, then wouldn't they be able to come back?"_

Chara shrugged, standing up and heading towards the pond once more with her hands sliding into her pockets. "I don't get it." Chara repeated, shrugging her shoulders as she felt the slight wave of annoyance from her partner. "I'm just saying. I don't think that would prevent what happened up there. I know it was their soul that was damaged right away, but..."

" _*We would have had time."_ Frisk whispered softly, her depression washing over Chara like a blanket, causing her to stumble and nearly fall into the pond. She straightened herself quickly, sighing in relief, while Frisk continued to whisper in their mind. _"*It also would have been way less surprising for the humans...And If... If they just knew to dodge... if the monsters_ could _dodge.. then they wouldn't have died. The System stops that, though, and the humans were scared... We need to find out a way to stop that. To stop the System."_

Chara grimaced at the determined tone in Frisk's voice at the end, knowing how stubborn the girl could be. She sighed, scratching the back of her head. "So what're we gonna do, partner? It'd take forever to try and teach all the monsters how to do that... Hell, we don't even know how to do that."

Frisk was silent for a few moments, leaving Chara to make expressions at her reflection in the water, grinning a bit at finally having the chance to. She had been a ghost without a reflection for far too long, after all. She also dipped her hands into the cool water, pulling them out and smiling at the feeling of the water dripping off her skin.

She was so into the feeling that she jumped when Frisk spoke up again, her voice echoing through their head with determination.

" _*I have an idea of what to do. Let's go back to the others for now, I need to talk to Asgore."_ Chara nodded, blushing as she waved her hands and turned around, heading backwards towards New Home, where they had left all their friends waiting by the barrier's exit.

"What're you gonna do? And can I take the long way? It feels great to stretch your legs." Frisk giggled a bit, nodding. "Thanks partner."

" _*No problem. But as for what I want to talk to Asgore for..."_ She paused, waiting for Chara to lift her leg up to take a step before she finished her sentence. _"*I'm gonna fight him."_

She laughed as Chara fell flat on her face in surprise.

* * *

In the throne room, right outside the barrier, was a collection of monsters all talking to each other quietly, with the exception of one who seemed to yell with each word. All of them were friends Frisk had temporarily left behind, stating she wished to go and talk to a few people for awhile. The monsters had all agreed to simply wait for her, thinking she would not be long at all now that the monsters had freedom.

That was about an hour ago.

Now the monsters had thought to entertain themselves in some way. In the back was Toriel and Sans letting out pun after pun to each other, being glad to finally make jokes after so long, while Asgore, Toriel's ex-husband, smiled nervously beside them. He seemed happy to have everyone together, but it was clear the puns were getting to him.

On the other side of them was Sans' brother, Papyrus. He was more... vocal about his distaste in the puns, screaming "MAKE IT STOP!" as Toriel let out another skeleton pun.

"Gee, bro." Sans started, watching his brother fall to his knees with his gloved hands clasping at the side of his round head. "You got a... _bone_ to pick with me?" The smaller skeleton joked, causing Papyrus to scream louder while Toriel giggled beside him.

The last group of monsters were Alphys, Mettaton, and Undyne. Alphys was currently on her knees beside the robotic TV star, carefully twisting in a bolt with her claws on his left arm, which had come off during his "battle" with the human awhile ago. His legs had been fully repaired and his battery was restored, but his arms had still had some issues. He seemed to have no issue sitting there either, quietly humming to himself as his legs moved around experimentally.

Though Undyne, sitting beside him, _did_ have an issue when one of his legs came up and nearly smacked her in the face, but was blocked by her hand pushing it down quickly. "Hey, watch it. " She snapped, being noticeably on edge from having to deal with Papyrus' shouting and the wave of puns from Toriel and Sans.

Mettaton just chuckled softly, lowering his leg and smiling over at Undyne."Oh, sorry darling. I didn't mean to raise it that high~" He swooned out in his feminine voice, getting an eye roll from Undyne's single eye.

"Yeah, yeah. Just watch it." The Fishy warrior warned, a spear materializing in her hand which she waved around slightly. "Or I'll jab you."

"A met-ta-ton?" Sans quipped, appearing beside Undyne in a flash. The sudden appearance, and sudden pun, caused Undyne to scream out in rage and stab towards the skeleton's head. As she expected, though, he dodged easily by stepping to the side, still grinning. "Whoa, come on Chub, don't.." Another jab interrupted him and he hastily dodged to the side.

"Stop the stupid puns, you nerd!" The Warrior of the Underground shouted, jabbing towards the skeleton's chest halfheartedly. Although her face was twisted in irritation, her eyes only showed amusement while the ever-grinning Sans dodged to the side.

"Fine, fine." He said with his smile growing wider while Undyne hesitated in jabbing at him again, her eyes narrowed in suspicion at his easy surrender. His smile just grew at this, his body leaning back slowly in preparation for his escape. "I don't really want to be _pun_ ished for-" As expected, the spear flew towards his head and he bent his body backwards, letting it sail over him, just an inch away from his face. He chuckled as his head tilted up slightly, looking at the twitching woman. "Tossing an attack while I'm talking? Now that's just..." He bent his body backwards again, keeping his entire form unnaturally low to the ground while his feet still stood flat on it. "... _Low._ "

A feral scream tore through the room as Undyne jumped towards the target of her irritation, making the bonely guy jump to the side with a laugh. All the others in the room were also watching with amusement as Undyne ran after the small man, causing no one to notice the red eye staring at them from the doorway, with the owner having one hand on their hip.

"Guess you were right about being able to do stuff outside The System, at least." Chara remarked to her partner, who nodded quietly in 'their' mind while 'their' body stood at the doorway. The two watched as Undyne was forced to bend backwards to grab at Sans who jumped over her body, being surprisingly agile for such a lazy guy. But he was taken by surprise by the warrior bending back to grab him, his eyes visibly widening at the sight of Undyne's massive grin.

" _*Undyne suplexes Sans, just because she can."_ Frisk quipped, smiling while Chara just rolled her eyes with a grin, having said something similar during their fight at the Waterfall. Although that time, the woman really _had_ suplexed a boulder, but this time...

"Doesn't look like it." Chara pointed out, her eye flashing with magic, forcing it to lock onto Sans as his body disappeared, appearing just a few inches away from his brother. "Didn't know that was a spell." Chara muttered, rubbing slightly at her chin, feeling the same surprise from her partner.

They weren't the only ones surprised by the sudden technique, either.

"WHAT!" Undyne shouted, her bent body shooting up straight while she looked around rapidly for the skeleton. Her head snapped in his direction when he chuckled, shrugging his shoulders with his hands now in the pockets of his blue hoodie. She growled in annoyance in his direction, but didn't make a move to attack him again.

Papyrus was the only one to speak up after that, frowning as he looked down at his brother and waved his finger slightly. "Sans! Don't prank Undyne with your space nonsense again!" The taller skeleton scolded, just getting another shrug from his older, yet shorter, brother with his eyes closed.

"Sorry, Pap, I'll stop. Don't want her to _ground_ me." A giggle escaped Toriel while Papyrus let out a groan of annoyance, turning away from Sans.

"Always with the puns! You're really making me _bend_ out of shape!" The skeleton's statement was emphasized by his body suddenly bending awkwardly backwards, a loud "Nyeh heh heh!" escaping his mouth, staring up at the giggling Queen who had her hands over her mouth while she stared down at his empty eye sockets.

Chara herself couldn't help but snort, shaking her head while she pushed herself away from the door frame slightly. "Let's get in there before they end up going crazy." Frisk giggled in response, giving Chara an impression of nodding. The red-eyed child smiled, playfully 'shoving' the others mental shoulder. "Give me back my chair first. They're your friends, not mine." She stated without any remorse, getting a frown from her partner, though she relented the "chair" regardless.

" _They're your friends too, Chara._ " Frisk thought to the Fallen Child, only getting a slight shrug in response as Chara's ethereal form floated beside her. Without Chara's influence on the body, her eyes squinted until they appeared shut and the faint glow of her cheeks disappeared as well, leaving her with her normal tanned skin.

"*Meh, not really. Besides, the only one I like over there is Papyrus. He's the best." A wide grin appeared on the girl's face, staring at the tall skeletal brother in the distance, who was currently flailing his arms about, pleading for the others to help him since he couldn't seem to straighten himself up. Chara's grin grew at the sight, her red eyes practically stars. "*The best."

Frisk giggled quietly, smiling to herself while she began to walk towards the awaiting group of monsters. " _What about Sans? You two are both gluttons for puns."_ The brown-haired girl tilted her head a bit, noticing the slightly annoyed look on her partner's face. The look brought a sigh from the girl. " _It's about what he said, isn't it? I told you it's not..."_

"HELLO HUMAN!" A sudden shout interrupted, causing both girls to stumble to a stop as Papyrus stood in front of them, having appeared in a flash after noticing them. However, the monster had not waited for Toriel to finish helping him up, and so he was now awkwardly standing in front of them with his body shaped like an upside-down U with his head awkwardly tilted past his arms. Due to this, he was standing on his side with his arms pushing onto the ground beside him, as if he was on all fours, but with his chest facing upwards. "Did you finish your errands, human?" He asked with his loud voice, as if nothing was wrong at all.

"*The best." Chara repeated, laughing with her arms behind her head while she floated behind the giggling Frisk.

"Why do you laugh, human? Do I, the great Papyrus, amuse you!?" He asked in mock anger, turning his body so his head was now directly in front of the small girl, making her stumble back with her hands covering her smiling mouth. "Oh, I see! It seems the human has lost its voice! I must fix it! Come!" He 'stepped' towards her, lowering his body slightly with his arms and legs bending awkwardly in opposite directions. ("*You wonder if the joints are for show."). "You may ride on top of my Battle Body! I shall take you to the Queen! She'll fix you right up! And if she doesn't, then I'll take you to my kitchen to make you a fine meal that is s _ure_ to heal all wounds! Nyeh Heh Heh!"

Frisk couldn't help but laugh in response, covering her mouth completely, though she did begin to move towards Papyrus's side, intent on climbing on top of him as he offered. She was stopped by the appearance of Sans beside her, looking down at his brother with a wide smile.

"Bro, couldn't they just walk? Toriel is, like, right over there." Sans pointed out, glancing over at Frisk for just a moment, getting a small smile in return as Frisk lowered her arms. "Oh, and hey kid. Welcome-"

"NONSENSE!" Papyrus yelled, interrupting his brother, one of his hands reaching up and grabbing Frisk by the back of her shirt. Squeaking in surprise, Frisk was tossed on top of the skeleton's rounded armor, which nearly made her slide off before she grabbed onto the bottom opening for support. "If the human is harmed, then I must protect them from further harm! Onward Battle Body!" Sans just shrugged, chuckling as he watched his taller brother crawl towards Toriel, who was watching with a wide smile on her face.

"*I'm kind of jealous I gave you control back now." Chara admitted while she floated beside the two, her legs kicking up and down while she 'swam' through the air backwards... on her back, while her arms were behind her head. All theatrics as far as Frisk was aware, since Chara seemed to float wherever she wanted without moving. Even though Frisk was the only one that could see or hear her, excluding Napstablook, she always did such movements like she was swimming.

It made Frisk wonder if the Fallen Child had swam a lot when she was alive, but she kept the questions to herself. Instead, she lightly patted the front of Papyrus's armor, glancing over at Chara with a small smile. The ghostly girl just rolled her eyes in response, waving her hand dismissively.

"*You're already at Toriel. Besides, he offered it to you, not me." Frisk frowned at the girl, but quickly went back to a neutral expression when she turned towards the awaiting Queen of Monsters, who was smiling down at them and clearly trying not to laugh at the circumstance.

"Greetings, my child. Are you well?" She questioned with her gentle tone, carefully lifting Frisk off of Papyrus's body and placing her on the ground.

"I'm alright." Frisk muttered, smiling at the woman and she turned her smile towards the still bent Papyrus, giggling again. "Thank you for the lift, Papyrus."

"Think nothing of it, human! We are friends!" Papyrus stated, his head nodding upwards towards the ceiling. Chara snorted a bit, her arms resting on top of Frisk's head now while she floated behind the girl.

"*You briefly wonder if this could be considered modern art." She narrated with a laugh, her body floating away just as Toriel stepped closer, putting her arm under Papyrus's back.

"Now, now... Let's see if we can get this fixed. Be very still Papyrus." She ordered, getting a slight nod from the skeleton as he felt his body being tilted upwards slowly. Despite his agreement, he couldn't help but speak.

"Aha! I can feel it! Soon I, the great Papyrus, shall be standing up straight once more!" He cried out just as his hands left the ground, getting a laugh from the two girls beside him.

"Yes yes, all will be right soon." Toriel agreed, briefly turning her head towards the human girl with a smile. "Did you talk to everyone you wanted to, dear? Are you ready to head up to the surface?" The sudden question, and attention that everyone else in the room was suddenly giving her made Frisk squirm.

The question also prompted the others to walk over, with the now repaired Mettaton kicking one leg in the air while he walked beside Alphys and Undyne. Asgore had actually been behind the group already, having been mostly silent since he was still slightly processing the barrier being down at last. Sans was standing beside him, though no one commented on how he got behind the group without anyone noticing.

"Yo, Frisk! Finally get your butt in gear and got over here, huh?" Undyne greeted with a grin, getting a small smile in response. The warrior's grin fell slightly into an annoyed tone when a leg flew up into her face, followed by a sudden burst of laughter.

"Ohoho~ yes, Frisk-Darling! I'm glad you came back! You're looking much better than before!" Mettaton exclaimed, his body bending down and patting Frisk's cheeks, ignoring the shout of 'NYEH!' beside him as Papyrus's body finally snapped back into upright position. "You were looking so awfully pale before!" The robot-idol stated, his voice heavy with concern, which washed over the others in the room, each giving Frisk a concerned or sad look.

Excluding the skeleton brothers and Chara, the former of which were giving her bright smiles, though it took a moment to see Sans' since he had to step into vision beside his brother. "Well, the kid did go through a Met-ta-ton of work. Probably just needed a walk." Frisk nodded a bit in response, having been wearing a slightly nervous expression since she wasn't sure anyone had seen her after they had loaded.

The paleness had came from what happened on the surface, after all, due to how shocking it had been and how sudden she felt the urge to Load...

A slight tap on the shoulder from Chara brought her out of that train of thought and she gave the group a reassuring smile, placing her hands behind her back. "I'm fine, everyone. I'm sorry if I worried you." She apologized, bowing her head slightly.

"Ah, it's fine, Frisk." Undyne announced, pulling Mettaton up and off the small human, ignoring the 'Whoa! Watch the merchandise there, honey!' from the robot when she did. The Royal Guard Captain gave Frisk a wide smile, showing off her teeth. "You beat me, after all. Nothing is gonna keep you down for long!" She pushed her fist down towards the girl, who smiled as she lightly bumped her fist against the taller woman's own.

"*Beat is a loose term here." Chara pointed out with amusement clear in her voice, spinning on her side idly. "*Having to fight someone three times and dumping water on their face when they overheat isn't really a victory." Her words were lost to everyone but Frisk, who send a mental eye roll towards her partner, before turning her head side to side to look at everyone.

"I'm sorry still... and I still have a few things to do, before we go up to the surface, if that's okay." The girl admitted, slightly fiddling with her fingers in front of herself.

The others glanced at each other for a moment, each shrugging slightly with Toriel being the one to respond. "It's fine, my child. You may take as long as you'd like. We waited for a long time... A few more hours won't be the end of us." Frisk tried to hide the slight flinch from her words, quickly giving a small nod and smile. Toriel smiled back, though couldn't help but tilt her head in confusion, asking "Why did you come back here if you still had things to do, though, my child? Did you just wish to tell us you were going to take a bit longer?"

Frisk shook her head slightly, chewing a bit on her lip for a moment. "Not... exactly. I came to ask a few things... uh..." She paused, looking behind herself towards the large form of the King of Monsters that stood behind her... His intimidating size being completely polarized by the gentle expression he wore on his face while looking down at her. She smiled at him, her nervousness fading at the sight of his face. "I came to ask for some help, too, from you."

Asgore blinked at the words, nervously rubbing the back of his head when everyone's gazes turned his way. "Uh... Help? From me? Golly, uh... Certainly, child, but what is it you need help with?" His voice was as gentle as his expression, though mixed with the same curiosity that lit up his eyes. It wasn't often that Frisk asked for anything, after all, although he barely knew the child beyond the way gentle way Frisk had made her way through the Underground. Still, everyone else was also watching curiously as Frisk shuffled on her feet, her nervousness returning.

A hand on her shoulder melted that nervousness away and she looked up at the monster King, her face full of determination. "I want to test some things... with the Battle System. Could you fight me to test them?" An audible gasp came from the monsters behind her, most likely belonging to Toriel, while Asgore himself just tilted his head curiously.

"F... Frisk! My child, you shouldn't..." Toriel started, not noticing the darkening face of the small skeleton beside her. Instead, she focused on the back of Frisk's head, which turned to reveal Frisk's reassuring smile.

"It's okay. I'm just trying to test something..." Frisk tried to assure, though the worried expression on her 'Mother's' face didn't fade. Asgore glanced up at his ex-wife's face, letting out a slight sigh as he knelt down on one knee, smiling at the child in front of him when she turned to face him again.

He cleared his throat before speaking, "I don't mind helping you, child. But I would like to know what you're testing. Alphys may be of more assistance than me for such things." Asgore noted, gesturing towards the Royal Scientist, who shuffled with an embarrassed look on her face from the offhanded praise.

"Y...Yeah, Frisk, if you have any questions then I can..." Alphys stuttered out, her claws tapping together when Frisk turned to look at her with a neutral expression.

"I don't know if you'd know anything about it... But I want to try turning the Battle System off. Without using Mercy or Running." The Fallen Hero explained, turning her body around to face the group of monsters who were staring with shock and surprise now. She held her arms out, smiling at them to reassure them of her reasons. "It's to help you... I want to make it a better system for you." The monsters all glanced at each other, none of them seeming completely certain about what Frisk was trying to say.

Undyne was the first to recover, smacking her chest with her fist with a grin. "If you want something done, then we're behind you all the way, Frisk!" She assured with her grin widening at the smile the child sent her way. Her grin took a feral turn as she leaned down, the back of her fists resting on her hips. "Although if it's a fight you want, you could always challenge me for a rematch. But only if you fight for real."

Frisk mimicked her pose in response, sticking her own chest out with a confident smirk. "If it works like I want it to, then I've got to save you for later! That way we can have a real friendly fight." Undyne blinked her one eye at the words and then laughed, bending back and laughing into the air above her.

The Royal Captain grinned down at Frisk, her eye sparkling. "And here I thought you were just a wimpy nerd! Looks like you've got some backbone after all!" She laughed again, crossing her arms now under her chest. "I'll hold you to that, Shrimp!"

Frisk smiled and turned her head slightly, looking back at Asgore who was standing up again, his expression light, yet still very curious. "So, do you mind helping me a bit? It shouldn't take too long." Asgore blinked a bit, humming and looking over at his ex-wife, who was frowning at him with a dark expression.

He gulped nervously, shrugging his shoulders slightly and glancing down at the awaiting Frisk, causing the Queen to sigh slightly. "I can't really tell you no if Frisk is requesting it, but... Are you certain, my child?" She looked down at Frisk, who gave her a sharp nod, her expression full of determination.

"I am. It's... It's really important." Frisk exclaimed, her expression making Toriel's own fall into a sad smile.

"Very well, I won't try to stop you... But you!" She pointed suddenly at Asgore, who flinched and held his hands up defensively. She glared at him, her magic making flames dance in the air behind her for a moment. "Do _not_ hurt my child, or I'll make sure you regret it." Her threat was met with a quick series of nods, making Undyne whistle a bit and Chara made the sound of a whip with her mouth as Asgore spoke up.

"O... Of course, Tori. I don't wish to hurt Frisk..." Toriel just frowned at him, but the flames did die down and eventually disappeared. Asgore smiled nervously, looking down at Frisk. "Uh... So, what did you have planned, child? Do you wish for me to start up the system?" His question was met with a shake of the head and Frisk began to walk away from the group, heading for the center of the room.

"Let's walk over here first... and I'll try to start it myself." The Fallen Hero's statement brought surprise to everyone's face again, but she didn't see it due to her back to the group. Instead, she focused on the floating girl beside her, giving her a slight nod.

Chara arched her eyebrow in response, floating on her side with her fingers drumming on the air. "*What? You want me to fuse with you?" Another nod was sent her way before Frisk turned, watching Asgore slowly walk towards her with the others watching from behind. The Fallen Child frowned a bit, following her partner's gaze with a soft 'hum.' "*You sure? They'll notice, even if I don't take control."

Frisk frowned at that, watching the large King step in front of her. He gave her a smile which she quickly returned, her fists clenching at her sides. " _I need your help with this, Chara. I don't know how to really work with magic."_ She thought at her partner, making the girl sigh and shrug as her body floated closer.

"*Fine, but I'm staying in my Chair-ah." Frisk's lips twitched, trying to hold back a laugh at the joke, but the feeling of Chara's soul sliding even closer to her own made her let out a gasp regardless. "*You feel two souls joining together..." Chara's voice whispered, echoing in her head while her eyes cracked open a bit more, revealing the bottom of the ruby colored orbs that stared towards the surprised looking Asgore. Magic flowed around the girl's form, making her shirt and hair flow in the unnatural wind. Chara's ethereal body was all but gone now, leaving only a faint red glow of magic around Frisk.

"*You are filled... with Determination."

 **[Save?] [*Yes] [No]**

* * *

"What is _that?_ " Alphys gasped out, her claws tapping at her jaw nervously. Beside her, Toriel was doing much of the same while the two skeletons both stared with their usual neutral expressions. Mettaton was staring with stars in his eyes, clapping his hands together.

"Oh my! She looks positively radiant! And look at those eyes! Gorgeous!" He laughed, his leg kicking up into the air and his hand grabbing the top of his foot. "I will definitely have to put Frisk in a modeling job if she has a gaze like _that_!" Toriel's surprise was broken by the idol's words and she turned towards him with a frown.

"My child is not going to be a doll for you to dress up!" Mettaton just laughed in response, his hands waving dismissively.

"Of course not, dear! She'd be a model! A gem!" Toriel frowned, trying to think of a way to get Mettaton to leave Frisk alone, while Undyne let out a hum, rubbing her chin thoughtfully.

"I think... I've seen this before." The Royal Captain muttered, causing Sans' and Alphys to glance in her direction. Alphys gulped a bit, staring up at her girlfriend with her usual nervous expression.

"Y... You have? I've never s... seen anything like this!" The Royal Scientist shouted, her eyes wide as she looked over at Frisk, who was holding one hand up towards Asgore now. The King was only able to stare in response, watching as the Battle System began to form around them.

To the others, it was like a large box suddenly appeared around them, making an arena of sorts. But there was a line between them that kept them separated and, after a brief moment, the area around Asgore shrunk itself so the man could barely move, while a white heart rested at his feet. In contrast, Frisk's area was open wide, but there was a red heart at Frisk's feet that represented her _soul,_ although it was glowing brighter than usual. The four menu items floated at the bottom of each box, which let the heart representing those in the battle bounce between them.

Undyne nodded her head, rubbing at her chin slowly while her arms remained crossed. "Yeah... I think she did something like that when we fought. Only for a second or two, though... She blocked my spears really quick when it happened." Alphys squirmed at the explanation, frowning.

"I... I must've missed that part..." She muttered to herself, fiddling with her coat. Undyne chuckled a bit in response, rubbing the lizard girl's head.

Papyrus was much more vocal about his displeasure, his voice comically loud. "HEY! Are you saying you got to see the Human fight Undyne!? Why wasn't I invited!?" The tall skeleton complained, putting his hands on his hips while he turned to face the two. Undyne just rolled her eyes in response, waving her hand dismissively, while Alphys hid slightly behind her girlfriend's leg.

"I told you not to, remember? Plus she wasn't even there, she just had a camera watching me fight." Papyrus blinked the best a skeleton could and hummed, rubbing his chin.

"Oh, right."

"Do you have a camera recording this one too?" Sans suddenly asked, stepping past his brother with his ever present grin seeming to be lower than usual. Alphys blinked at the question, slowly nodding her head and straightening her glasses.

"Y... Yes of course. I installed cameras at the barrier first... just in case something happened." She pointed to the front of the room, near the door that led to New Home that Frisk came from. "A... Around there, I think." Sans nodded his head, turning his gaze back towards the two in battle.

"Good... We might need it." He muttered, ignoring the confused look Alphys sent his way.

A sudden burst of magic brought her attention to the other two, stopping her from inquiring further.

* * *

"*Asgore stands in front of you. He smiles patiently." Chara narrated, her mental self brushing the seat of an imaginary chair. "*I told you not to get crumbs in my chair and here I am brushing off Temmie flakes. Aren't you allergic to this stuff?" The Fallen Human complained, sitting down in her chair with a dramatic sigh, leaning back with a playful smirk on her face as she felt Frisk's joking exasperation.

" _Excuse me, Princess!"_ She exclaimed with a huff, smiling while looking around the Battle System and ignoring the annoyed 'look' Chara sent her way. " _But_ I _wasn't the one that left them there! And no, I'm only allergic to Temmie. The flakes are just colorful paper, anyways."_ Chara just let out a '*Uh huh', smiling again while the soul below them bounced around in the box. _"As expected, though... I didn't have the first turn, since I started the fight. Have to wait for Asgore to go."_ Frisk couldn't help but feel a bit nervous, something Chara noted and understood. The last time they had fought the man, he had murdered them _so many times_...

All because Frisk refused to raise a hand against him, until it was clear there was no other option.

The Princess of Monsters pushed down the anger she felt, knowing Frisk would berate her for it, and instead focused their magic. In a poof, their Frying Pan and Stained Apron appeared on Frisk's body and the girl twirled the pan idly in her hand, nodding to herself. While they did have other equipment, such as the Locket and Worn Knife, Frisk had been adamant about not wearing or using either of them while she was in control. They were Chara's possessions, after all.

A sudden cough from Asgore brought their attention back to him and he lowered his hand down, having used it to cover his mouth while he coughed. "So, Child, what is it you wish to try?" He questioned with a curious tilt of the head, his white heart hovering over the Mercy tab.

"Just Spare me for now, if that's okay." Frisk started, giving him a reassuring smile. "And thanks for helping me. Hopefully it'll work." Asgore nodded his head, smiling as he went through the menu.

 **[MERCY] → [*Spare] [Flee]**

With a beep, Asgore's name turned into a yellow shade on Frisk's menu and their turn began. "*Asgore is sparing you." Chara noted, keeping up her role as narrator, though breaking it the instant later as she tilted her head. "*So what now, partner?"

Frisk didn't answer vocally, but instead went through the menu to the Act tab.

 **[ACT] → [*Talk] [Spell]**

Both girls stared at the extra part to the Act menu, remembering that the last time they really fought the man, there had only been one action... To talk. Which lowered his stats according to Chara and the Battle System. But now there was a new one...

"*Worth a shot, right? It's probably because of our intent and knowledge... or something." Chara shrugged her shoulders, laying over the chair in their mind. "*Give it a shot, partner. I'll handle it if it ends up being magic." Frisk nodded her head, going through the options slowly.

 **[ACT] → [Talk] [*Spell]**

 **[Spell] → [*Enhancement] [Fire Spells] [Break]**

"*Okay, so Enhancement and Fire Spells are clearly what we talked about before, but..." The Princess muttered, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. She was also letting magic flow around them more readily now, since it was clear the Spell action involved magic in some way. This made Frisk's shirt and hair fly around more rapidly, slightly exposing the girl's tanned stomach for a brief moment when the apron flew all the way upwards. Chara waved her hand a bit, feeling the Fallen Girl's confusion and curiosity. "*Go for it. I'm with you all the way."

Frisk nodded her head in response, moving her marker over to the Break action.

 **[Spell] → [Enhancement] [Fire Spells] [*Break]**

 **[Cast Break?] [*Yes] [No]**

"*You cast Break! The System begins to shake..." The box shook rapidly around them, making Asgore look around with wide eyes, as small cracks appeared along the walls surrounding their souls. But, after a moment, it stopped and the cracks began to regenerate into a solid box around their form. "*But nothing happened." Chara grumbled in annoyance, tapping her fingers against the arm of her chair. "*Guess we didn't put enough power in it."

"Wha... What was that, Frisk?" Asgore questioned, looking at the girl with a surprised expression, something that was mirrored on the rest of the monsters in the room. Although they didn't feel the magic going through the system like Asgore did, they still saw the bars around them shaking. "Were you trying to break the souls out of the System?" Frisk nodded slightly at his question, frowning and looking down at her own soul.

"I am. Would you mind letting me try again?" Asgore frowned a bit, but slowly nodded, pressing the Spare option once again.

 **[MERCY] → [*Spare] [Flee]**

With another beep, it was Frisk's turn again. Without hesitation, she moved her soul marker and picked the Break spell.

 **[Spell] → [Enhancement] [Fire Spells] [*Break]**

 **[Cast Break?] [*Yes] [No]**

"*You cast Break! The System begins to tear itself apart... You put your heart and soul into the spell!" Chara shouted, her own arms going up in their mental room, as she focused all the magic Frisk was sending her way. But once again, the box only shook and cracked before repairing itself, ending their turn and leaving Frisk panting slightly. "*Ugh... Nothing happened, but we're pretty tired now. Got any food in there?" Chara questioned, falling back in her chair with a groan.

"Not much..." Frisk muttered out loud, shaking her head slightly and looking up at Asgore, who was giving her a worried look now. He didn't react to her talking to herself, but still hesitated in his menu choice.

"Are you alright, child? We should stop if you're..." Frisk quickly shook her head, giving him a tired smile with her eyes still barely open.

"It's okay. Please keep going, I think I'm figuring it out." Asgore frowned a bit more, but nodded his consent.

 **[MERCY] → [*Spare] [Flee]**

Frisk smiled a bit more, looking around at the box of the System with a soft hum. " _Did the cracks appear in the same spots as last time?"_ She questioned to her partner, getting a slight nod in response.

"*Yeah. Two on Asgore's side on the middle of each side and then one on the middle bar... and two on our box, same spots as his, but bigger." The Princess of Monsters answered, lighting up the spots in Frisk's gaze by giving her the 'feeling' of where they were.

"Focus on those, then." Frisk ordered, not noticing she was talking out loud as she began to go to the Break spell once again. "We'll put all the magic into those points." Asgore gave her a confused look, but gasped as the spell began to cast and the whole System began to shake.

 **[Spell] → [Enhancement] [Fire Spells] [*Break]**

 **[Cast Break?] [*Yes] [No]**

"*You... cast... Break!" Chara grunted out, her hands clasped together as she focused on her magic the way Toriel taught her. The air around them began to spin around rapidly while the boxes shook and cracked quickly; the focus of energy making the spots crack even faster. Frisk shoved her own hands towards the cracks on their side, making the whole thing shake faster and faster, until...

The boxes shattered. The two souls that were locked in combat suddenly disappeared, going back into their owner's bodies, yet still glowing brightly as if they were still in battle. Frisk panted slowly, a wide smile appearing on her face, watching the four menus float upwards and then hover above the two for a brief moment, before disappearing in a flash of light. Asgore was openly gaping at the sight, having never expected or even thought of doing such a thing to the System, and yet...

"*The System's confines shatter... and yet it remains." Chara narrated, looking down at the four menus that were now floating inside Frisk's mental space, yet each were slightly grayed out. Experimentally, Chara slowly tapped the Act button, making it bob up and down in the air slightly. Before she could comment on it, a sudden flash made her flinch back, rubbing at her eyes to clear her vision.

When it was cleared, Chara felt her mouth hang open at the sight of a new menu hovering above the other four, which were slowly beginning to fade. Unlike the others, this one was a bright gold color and each letter shined in the faint light of the mental room. Chara slowly poked it, making it bob in the air as well, but this time it flashed and magic flowed through Frisk's body, making the girl gasp in alarm.

 **[Battle] [*Yes] [XXXXXXXX]**

 _[_ **Music Selected: Strongest Monster** _ **]**_

With the only option being Yes, Frisk wasn't even given a choice as her body glowed with a faint bit of magic, mixing with the aura already surrounding her. She looked up at Asgore in alarm, noticing the same glow around his own form as he stared down at his hands with a confused expression. But Frisk wasn't confused by the sudden change. She could _feel_ the connection between herself and Asgore now, as if they were still locked in combat within the boxes that held their souls, but instead of having their souls fully exposed, their bodies were just faintly glowing a dull blue.

Although in Frisk's case, it was a soft purple.

"It worked..." She muttered, making Asgore's head shoot up, while Frisk smiled brightly, holding up her hand that held her Frying Pan to the man. "I want to try something, okay? So don't dodge!" She suddenly ordered, starting to walk towards the King of Monsters.

"*Wait, what? What are you trying?" Chara asked in alarm, feeling nothing but the determination of her partner as an answer. "*Frisk! Talk to me!" She demanded in annoyance, groaning as she felt the amusement the Fallen Hero felt for keeping Chara in the dark. Which left the girl with no choice but to let her friend have her fun. "*Ugh, fine... Just don't do anything stupid."

Frisk just smiled in response, standing in front of the King now, who stared down at her curiously. Neither of them noticed the dark expression being sent their way as Frisk lifted her Frying Pan. She sent a smile up to the man, making him flinch slightly from the ruby red eyes staring at him with joy. "This might sting a bit, but bare with me." He just blinked, having no time to respond as Frisk suddenly smacked at the armor around his knees. He gasped and stumbled back slightly from the feeling, his eyes wide as Frisk continued to smile at him.

There were other gasps from the monsters watching and each of them started to run over quickly with Undyne and Papyrus at the front. "Hey! What're you doing Fr-" Undyne started to shout, but slid to a stop when Asgore spoke up, his eyes wide while he slightly patted at the spot where the pan had struck him.

"It... stung on the outside, not the inside..." His surprise was clear in his voice and Undyne was clearly gaping at the news. The rest of the monsters also came to a stop at the news, although not all for the same reasons. Papyrus and Toriel both hit an invisible wall with audible _oofs_ , while the rest just came to a stop right behind them after seeing them hit the wall. Toriel stumbled back, rubbing her nose with a slight pout on her face, while Papyrus was more vocal with his annoyance, shaking his fist in the air and stomping his foot.

"What! Who dares block the Great Papyrus!? Show yourself!" He demanded, punching the invisible wall, which made no noise except for the slight _pomf_ from the Skeleton's Battle Body fists. He growled in annoyance, about to throw another punch when he felt his brother's hand tap his leg, making his attention go down towards the smaller skeleton who was grinning as he put his own hand against the wall.

"It's just the wall like usual, bro. They're still in a battle." Sans explained, his hand glowing with blue magic, allowing him to step into the battle square that was currently invisible to the rest of the group. Upon entering, however, his whole body began to glow faintly, exposing the white soul in his chest, which he stared down at curiously for a moment. ("*Sans wandered in to battle.")

 _ **[**_ **Music Change: What it might sound like if you fought Sans + Strongest Monster** ** _]_**

He looked up with a grin and then took a step back, exiting the wall and letting the glow fall off of his body. The two still involved in the battle watched him do it, both feeling the connection and the loss of it from the skeleton entering and exiting the battle. ("*But it looked like too much work, so he left.") "Let's me just walk right out, huh? Neat." Said Skeleton noted with a slight laugh, rubbing the back of his head, staring towards Frisk through the 'wall.' "Looks like you found something neat here, huh?"

 _ **[**_ **Music Change: Strongest Monster** ** _]_**

Frisk smiled in response, watching Alphys tentatively poke at the wall with her claw. The Fallen Hero turned her gaze back towards Asgore, her smile growing as she held her pan up in his direction. "Let's test it out a bit more, Asgore. Let me have the honor of sparring with you." Asgore blinked in surprise at the request, looking nervously over at Toriel who was staring at the two with a frown on her face now.

But Undyne slammed her fist onto the wall, keeping Toriel from making her displeasure vocal by vocalizing her own displeasure. "What! If you're gonna spar, spar with me, shrimp! This looks interesting!" She demanded, her eyes and grin wide in excitement. But her face fell into a slightly surprised gape as Frisk turned her head, regarding the warrior with a confident smirk, which was amplified by the haughty gaze the red eyes were sending her way. ("*Mettaton's legs stick up straight from seeing your eyes. He almost seems... excited? You ignore it.")

"I want to fight him first, Undyne." Frisk announced, her smirk growing slightly, while she ignored the 'Oh yes!' coming from behind the Royal Warrior. "So I know I can give you a good fight." She turned away without waiting for Undyne's response, which was a large feral grin showing off all of her sharp fangs. Instead, the Fallen Hero regarded the King with the same gaze she was sending Undyne, twirling her pan slightly in her hand. "So will you spar with me? We need to make sure this thing is stable."

Asgore squirmed a bit, looking over at Toriel again for permission, causing the woman to let out a heavy sigh. Her hand slightly dragged across her face before giving a sharp nod, her expression full of concern. "I... can't really stop you two, especially if my child is so adamant about it... Just don't hurt each other, alright?"

"Sure Mom." "Of course, Tori." They both replied at once, causing the woman to smile a bit, although it was more from the 'Mom' comment than their easy agreement. She could only watch as the two slid into small fighting stances, although Asgore's was the only true stance as he held his hands slightly in front of his chest while his massive armor bent itself to guard at his sensitive flesh, while his expression fell into a more serious and battle-ready one. It made the woman gulp slightly, knowing that despite his gentle nature, Asgore was still a warrior.

He was still the King of Monsters.

… And yet the human showed no fear at his imposing figure, as if she had seen such a thing thousands of times. Instead, she smirked, holding her pan up at him once again. "You ready?" She questioned, her barely opened eyes sparkling with excitement.

Asgore smiled a bit at the sight, unable to keep himself from imagining the three children before that had stood before him with such an expression. One of which was now an imposing warrior of her own, shouting out encouragement from the sidelines.

"Yes! Fight fight! Knock him off his feet, first try!" Undyne shouted loudly, pumping her fists up in the air. As one who trained under Asgore for many years and _finally_ knocked him off his feet after so many different types of training. It was one of the proudest moments of her life... and she'd be damned if she didn't cheer on her friend for doing the same. "You beat me, Frisk! You can take this guy!"

'This guy' chuckled a bit nervously, feeling himself sweat from his guard's words. He shook a bit to clear his thoughts and then nodded towards the one in front of him, smiling kindly. "Certainly, Frisk. I'm ready when you are." Asgore declared, only getting a smirk in response as Frisk's small form shot towards him.

He was briefly surprised at her speed, but this didn't stop him from blocking the swing of her pan on his left with his bracer. The punch she sent with her left hand was blocked with his right palm, grabbing her fist and suddenly spinning with surprising grace for his large form. The sudden blocks and grab made Frisk gasp in surprise, unable to respond as she was tossed into the air, back to where the fight started.

She landed on her feet, but stumbled back, staring at Asgore a bit more warily now, while he gave her a small patient smile. "*You attempted to attack Asgore, but he blocked every attack. You're beginning to think this might be more difficult than you thought." Chara stated in their mind, smiling at the small bit of embarrassment she could feel from her partner. "*Want me to help you out? I'll tell you right now, this guy is no pushover even outside the Battle System's rules." She waved her hand slightly, gesturing towards their left where the monster group were watching. "*He trained Undyne too, who kind of kicked our ass until we worked together."

" _Another for the jar."_ Frisk idly noted, spinning the pan in her hand again. Chara just rolled her eyes in response, sitting up right as she felt the determination from Frisk begin to flood the mental room she was in. " _But yeah, let's take this into high gear. Finding out what this thing can take is important."_

"*Right-o. Hand on to your butt for this one, otherwise we might lose it." Chara chuckled a bit, cracking her knuckles and grabbing the arms of her chair, beginning to focus the magic Frisk was giving her into the girl's limbs. "*And that'd be a shame." She added with a playful smile, feeling Frisk's muscles pulse with the energy she was sending through her.

To those outside, however, Frisk's body began to glow a bright red light that slowly faded, leaving just a faint glow that overlapped the glow from the System's remains, causing a purple shine around the girl's form. Her hair and shirt moved slowly in the wind and her eyes were glowing pure red now, yet still remained barely open, even while the energy she was letting out made the air around her whip around like a tornado.

Alphys loudly gasped at the sight, quickly pulling out a small cellphone and holding it up towards the human, getting the attention of those around her. "I don't believe it..!" She muttered to herself, not noticing her audience. "These are extreme magic levels! Close to a Boss Monster's level... How did Frisk get all this energy?" She pondered aloud, though Papyrus let out a 'Nyeh heh heh! in response, despite not being addressed directly.

"Why, because they're our friend of course!" He exclaimed, nodding as if it explained everything.

Sans shrugged in response, chuckling a bit. "Makes sense to me." The lazy skeleton easily agreed, his hands wiggling a bit inside the pocket of his hoodie, winking with his right eye. "Still, gotta say the kid is looking pretty red over there. Might mistaken 'em for an apple if it gets any worse." His joke brought an eye roll from the rest, but their attention was brought back to the 'spar' as Frisk leaned down slightly, preparing herself to jump towards the man waiting for her attack, although with a far more nervous expression than before.

"Hope you're ready, Asgore. I'm going all out..." She informed with a confident smirk returning to her face, feeling Chara's spirit flooding over her.

"*Two souls beat as one. The wind howls for your victory..." Chara whispered, her eyes closed as she focused on enhancing her partner's body. "*Your are filled... With determination!" Her words worked as a trigger for the body, suddenly sending it flying forward towards the awaiting King.

Dirt and dust flew into the air from her movement, leaving a visible foot print where she had kicked off the ground, while the Stained Apron she wore was ripped off from the sudden movement, the strings being unable to stay tied up while exposed to such force. The others were openly gaping at the sight, but Asgore was given no time to react in surprise. His left hand quickly shot behind him, his reflexes acting out more than his mind as he blocked another blow from the pan that attempted to blind side his left hip. He spun on the spot, sending Frisk's arm high, though he was surprised to find the girl no longer there by the time he was able to see where she was.

Instead, all he could see was the handle of the pan as it flew into the air, having been released the moment the attack was deflected. He only gave it a brief glance before spinning once more, grabbing at a fist that was flying at his back, but was once again surprised to find the girl missing by the time he managed to spin around. He could feel her slide between his legs, however, and instantly deduced that she used the weight behind her punch to send herself sliding forward under him. With that in mind, he jumped forward, deciding to not try and find out what she was planning by sliding behind him.

However, he quickly realized this was a mistake as he felt the weight added to his long cape. The Human had grabbed onto the cape as she slid under him, holding onto the edge just as he jumped forward. The added force of him jumping along with her sliding forward sent her body into the air while she held on; and a brief glance backwards saw Frisk's feet shoot out, grabbing the still airborn Frying Pan with her feet by the large, rounded part.

Asgore knew at that moment he was dealing with someone that was a natural born fighter, despite her gentle nature surprisingly enough, and accommodated his strategy accordingly without even really thinking about it.

With a snap of magic, his shoulder armor suddenly fell off, letting the cape and heavy pieces of metal fall to the ground with Frisk going with them, while simultaneously revealing the large sleeveless black undershirt he wore. The girl let out a squeak of surprise, having been planning on using the cape to sling herself towards Asgore's head, but now she was falling towards the ground. She quickly let go of the cape, letting it drift down away from her since it had been blinding her face...

Which ended up being a fatal flaw in her plan as she saw Asgore's form disappear before the metal armor even hit the ground, sending dirt and dust flying into the air, and leaving her unaware of where the man was. She quickly spun the best she could while in mid-air, grabbing the handle of her pan that was sticking out towards her, only to gasp in alarm as she saw Asgore's large hand reaching up towards her from below.

"*Not yet, partner!" Chara shouted, her hands clapping together as she forced the magic in their bodies to spike in power for just a brief moment. "*Flames gather in your hands! The heat of your _Soul_ fuels them!" She yelled, her eyes snapping open with her own determination flooding into the magic, mixing with Frisk's already potent energy.

Frisk grinned, tossing the pan to the side and holding her hands to the side, putting her wrists together and bending her fingers towards her palms as magic flooded into them, rapidly forming an orb in the air . "* _ **Fire Blast!**_ " The two Fallen shouted in unison, the orb exploding into a massive jet of flame that launched them away from the King's grab, just as he was about to grab at the bottom of her shirt to subdue her. The sudden spell and movement made the man hesitate and gasp in alarm, watching Frisk's form spin away in an uncontrolled arc, briefly passing by the pan she had thrown just a moment before.

"W.. What the Hell!?" Undyne screamed in excitement, her hands gripping the sides of her head while her body hopped in place, excitement clear on every fiber of her being. "That was awesome!"

"I had no idea the human was capable of such thing! Fire Magic would make cooking a lot easier!" Papyrus said with a wide smile on his face, excited for a completely _different_ reason than Undyne.

"Wow, it's getting pretty heated in there, huh?" Sans joked, though his voice came out a bit forced, while his eyes regarded the spinning form of Frisk a bit cautiously now. His joke mostly went unnoticed along with his gaze, as Toriel was just openly gaping at the sight of Frisk using fire magic, her eyes beginning to brim with tears as memories flooded back to her.

" _Thanks for teaching me this, Miss Mom... I'm glad I could help you cook now."_

" _I should be thanking you, dear. Gory and Asriel are complete clutz when it comes to cooking. It's nice to have a helping hand."_

" _... No, I should be the one thanking you... For letting me be in your family."_

" _... You're my child now, Chara. You don't need to thank me for that."_

An image of a shy smile and blushing face echoed in her mind, but was shattered by a loud crash as Frisk finally hit the ground, sending a lot of smoke into the air and creating a cloud around her form. The Queen gasped a bit, starting to move towards the wall to check on the small girl, but didn't even have time to shout out her worries as Frisk's form shot out of the cloud of smoke, grabbing her Frying Pan just as it was about to hit the ground and landing neatly on her feet a few feet away from Asgore's still shocked form.

"That was close. Talk about being tossed out of the frying pan..." The Fallen Human stated, tossing the pan in her left hand up into the air briefly, grinning a bit while she dusted off her pants with her other hand. "...and into the fire." She finished, getting a snort of amusement from the two pun lovers watching, though Toriel had tears in her eyes, happy that her child seemed to be alright.

Asgore, on the other hand, just let out a soft chuckle, turning towards the girl with a faint smile on his face. "Interesting, child... Where did you learn that? I was under the impression humans forgot how to do magic." Frisk just shrugged in response, turning her body towards the man.

"A close friend taught me." She answered with a smirk, twirling the pan in her hand again before leaning down in preparation to jump towards the King once more. "But let's go a bit more." Asgore just blinked in response, but his body stiffened slightly, readying for a counter attack while he awaited Frisk's burst of speed.

"*We're a bit low on magic after all that." Chara suddenly pointed out, panting a bit and slightly cracking her neck to snap the ghostly cramp she got from focusing all her magic before. "*You can do maybe four bursts tops, two fire balls, or we can go for a standard enhancement and launch one fire ball. Enhancement will last for..." She waved her hand slightly. "*I dunno, five minutes?"

" _Plenty of time. Do it."_ Frisk answered, getting a nod in response and shivering as she felt the magic begin to flood her body once more.

"*Magic gathers inside you... Your body feels empowered. You feel like you could stomach a plate of Spaghetti with ease. "

Frisk smiled at Chara's habit of narrating, even when they were in a battle situation. She chuckled slightly as she felt her body growing stronger and she quickly shot forward, although much slower than the first attack. This didn't seem to surprise Asgore at all, but he still struggled to block a swing of her pan, although this time she quickly pulled the pan back and swung again under his right arm that he used to block her, trying to send it upwards to make the King go off balance.

Her enhanced strength didn't seem to be enough to send it all the way up, but it still gave her a small opening that she quickly took advantage of when his wrist went up enough to expose his chest. She pushed her pan hard into the man's stomach, sending him stumbling backwards slightly. She grinned at her accomplishment, only to gasp in surprise as Asgore's other arm grabbed at her wrist, sending her stumbling after him. She quickly jumped upwards, shoving her feet against his chest and bending her knees, kicking hard off his chest to get away from him.

The action was completely unexpected, leaving Asgore stumbling back even further with his eyes wide, but he still didn't fall down. However, he wasn't able to keep his hold on Frisk's wrist, letting the girl back flip to safety in the air. She sent a confident smirk his way, making his eyes narrow instinctively as magic began to flow around the human's form once more.

"*Magic flows through you... It slides down your wrist and onto your weapon! The weapon seems suited for this kind of heat and amplifies the power!" Chara said with a wide grin, her eyes sparkling as a large orb of fire began to form on the inside of the Frying Pan they held, though in a much more stable version than before. The Fallen Children both grinned at their adoptive father, with Frisk's wrist pulling back and suddenly slinging the orb towards Asgore's form, causing the man's eyes to widen in alarm.

" _ ***Fireball!**_ " They both called out in unison again as the spell was cast, watching the orb fly through the air quickly. At that range, Asgore was only given a moment to react and out of instinct his body reached behind himself, pulling his massive trident free from his pocket space and he gripped it tightly in his left hand. He jabbed the three pronged weapon forward, catching the fireball at the very tip of the long middle prong and making it stick in the air for a brief moment.

A moment later, however, it exploded in the air, sending the man stumbling back once again. Before he had time to fully recover, he felt more than saw the human's form shooting towards him again from the large smoke cloud created by the explosion. Out of instinct, he swung his weapon in a wide arc in front of himself, trying to shove Frisk to the side.

He felt his attack hit something solid and a loud _clang_ tore through the air, making him a brief moment of relief since he knew where the child was now.

… A relief quickly shattered as he felt two hands suddenly land on his chest and two red eyes staring into his own. A wide smile was on the girl's face as her knees and hands shoved into the man's chest, forcing him backwards while he was still recovering from his previous stumble, making him gasp in surprise as he felt his body begin to shift downwards.

A moment later, he fell completely onto his rear with a laughing child sitting on his lap, grinning up at him. Asgore stared for a moment before joining in on the laughter, his trident disappearing as it hit the ground. He looked to the side as the smoke began to clear, staring at where he heard the clang from before, and wasn't surprised to see a discarded pan now resting at the edge of the wall.

He chuckled a bit, looking down at Frisk who began to stand up, giggling still out of the excitement of having taken Asgore down. "You used the pan to distract me from your approach, didn't you child?" Frisk smiled at him, nodding with her hands going behind her back while she stood up straight. He smiled brightly at her, reaching up and ruffling her hair slightly. "Golly, I'm very impressed. You're the first one to take me down on their first try. Even Undyne took about ten tries." He laughed a bit at the shout of 'Hey!' from the girl in question. He began to stand up, slightly patting down his legs and smiling down at Frisk's smaller form. "I suppose that means you win, Frisk."

Frisk grinned widely, the glow around her body beginning to fade and her eyes beginning to squint down until they were almost shut again. But a sudden _beep_ made both of them jump and they looked around for the source, though both stared at each other as the System's faint glow around their bodies began to fade away. Seconds later, words began to pop into both of their heads, though in Frisk's case, it popped into the air in front of Chara, who read them aloud.

"*You are the winner of the Battle! You gained 10 Battle EXP. You gained 5 Gold." Chara read out, frowning to herself as another message popped up in Frisk's mental state. "*You leveled up! Your BLV is now 3!" The Princess of Monsters hummed to herself, leaning back in her chair with a thoughtful expression. "*Seems it's different from the previous system. I don't think that stands for Love anymore."

The Fallen Hero frowned at her partner's words, looking up at Asgore curiously. "Did you get some kind of message? Mine told me I won the battle..." Asgore nodded in response, frowning and rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"I did. It said I lost the battle, but I didn't lose any EXP since I'm at 0. Strange..." He hummed, but blinked a bit in surprise as he saw everyone else walking up to the two, with Sans casually picking up the discarded Frying Pan and twirling it between his boney fingers. "Howdy! It seems everything worked out." Asgore greeted with a smile, only to squeak in alarm as Toriel's fist bonked him on the head. "Ah! W... What was that for, Tori!?"

"You nearly smacked my child away!" The woman shouted, shaking her fist towards her ex-husband. "Don't think I didn't notice!"

"I.. It was an accident!" He spluttered out, holding his hands up defensively. "I... I just did it out of instinct! She was too fast!"

"Excuses aren't going to save you!" The Queen told him with her eyes flashing dangerously, though a hand on her arm stopped her from punching at the man again as Sans stepped up, grinning as he held the pan up to Frisk with the handle sticking towards her.

"Don't worry about it Tori. Everything... _panned_ out." He joked with a wink, getting giggles and groans all around. He chuckled slightly, looking down at the pan in question with a bit of a grimace on his face... Or at least the closest to that expression he could make. "That being said, you might wanna get a new one." The Human tilted her head at his words, glancing down at the pan and turning it so the bottom was facing her. She winced slightly at the large dent in the center, making it an unusable mess as far as cooking went.

The sight made Toriel send another glare towards the man who caused the dent, making him step back with a nervous smile on his face, holding his hands up defensively. Frisk giggled at the sight, her hand flicking and sending the Frying Pan into her invisible inventory, something the monsters watched curiously. Frisk also felt Chara's form begin to form beside her again, yawning with her hands behind her back while her body leaned back in the air, as if she was relaxing in an arm chair.

"*You return the Dented Pan to your inventory." The Lazy Princess stated, her left eye closing while she yawned for a moment. "*It may not be good for cooking anymore, but you wonder if it still has its uses. Maybe a shovel?" The offer was met with a slight twitch of amusement from her partner, but nothing more as Frisk took a step back with a squeak, having both Alphys and Undyne suddenly an inch away from her with stars in their eyes.

"How did you learn how to use magic like that, Frisk!? I've never seen anything like that before from a human!" Alphys questioned with her claws scratching together, her head briefly hitting against her girlfriend's side, though neither paid it any mind.

Undyne herself had her hands gripped tightly into fists, holding them in front of her face, which was twisted into an extremely excited expression. "Fight me next, Frisk!" She demanded with her eyes glowing with fire. "I _have_ to trade serious blows with you! That was awesome! You even got him down first try!" The Fallen Hero smiled nervously, though with her eyes still nearly closed, unknowingly mimicking her adopted Father's expression.

"I.. I just got lucky. He was going easy on me." She said with a nervous chuckle when Undyne just leaned in further.

"He always goes easy on me and it still took me like ten tries after serious training! You're a total wimp with a big ol' heart! I didn't think you could be that strong!" The Royal Captain protested, though this made Frisk's expression fall into a confused one, her head tilting to the side. Chara did the same, her head tilting in the opposite direction while her arms crossed. Before either could vocalize what she was confused by, however, Toriel suddenly moved an arm in front of Frisk's body, pushing Alphys and Undyne back with a smile.

Chara, on the other hand, vocalized her confusion openly. "*She does know Papyrus is extremely strong, right? The guy she said was a wimpy loser with a big heart beat our ass harder than she ever could while playing around." The red-eyed girl clicked her tongue after wards, glancing over at the skeleton in question with a small smile that was mixed with a bitter look in her eyes. "*While making sure not to kill us, too. Bonus points for that." Frisk made a sour face at her words, but quickly went back to a neutral expression when Toriel began to talk.

"Now, now you two..." The Queen started, smiling kindly at the two while casually stepping in front them so they couldn't get to Frisk. "Frisk is probably very tired after all that... Why don't we all go back to the house and I'll cook us up a meal before we go to the surface?" Her offer was met with a loud cheer as Papyrus pumped his fists up into the air.

"Cooking!? I'll make my wonderful spaghetti for the human! It'll be sure to revitalize them!" He pumped his fist up into the air, but his words had Undyne turn towards him quickly, her excitement gone from her face. She struggled to keep the bit of fear out of her voice, remembering what her cooking lessons had led to before...

"Wait, you nerd. It's the Queen and King's house. So..."

"Ah!" Papyrus nodded, slapping his fist into his hand. "You're right! I should make a lot of it to fit their royal appetite!" He shouted with a wide smile on his face, making Undyne groan slightly, trying to think of a way to subdue him without hurting his feelings.

Surprisingly, it was Toriel that came to the "rescue", turning a radiant smile at the tall skeleton. "I'm sure your spaghetti is wonderful, Papyrus, but I'd really like to cook for everyone myself, if that's alright. It has been a very long time since I got to cook a real meal for a family." Papyrus frowned, rubbing his chin thoughtfully for a moment, not noticing the pained look on Asgore and unable to see the brief flash of sadness on a certain ghost's face.

"Hmm... I suppose that's fair." He nodded, his smile returning full blast. "Very well! I shall make spaghetti for you all another day." Toriel nodded, blinking a bit curiously at Undyne when she let out a sigh of relief, but she put her curiosity aside for now, turning around to face the blank faced Frisk, who looked up curiously at Toriel's smile.

"Why don't we head home and have a meal together, Frisk? Then we can head up to the surface." She held her hand out to the child, who gave her a kind smile, but then shook her head, making Toriel blink in confusion.

"Sorry, Mom." Frisk said with a hand rubbing at the back of her head slowly. "I've still got a few things to do... I'll try to hurry back?" The last part was said with a questioning tone, clearly unsure if she could or not. The Monster Mother frowned a bit, her hand going back to her side.

"Well... If you're sure..." She mumbled sadly, though she let out a gasp as Frisk's arms suddenly wrapped around her waist, pulling her into a tight hug. The woman smiled gently, lowering herself slightly and hugging the smaller girl to her body, though they both separated quickly with matching smiles. Toriel nodded slightly down at her, her eyes full of warmth. "Be safe, my child, and hurry back."

"I will, Mom." Frisk agreed, starting to turn away from the group. Before she could take a step, she felt a hand land on her shoulder and she turned her head curiously towards the blue jacket wearing skeleton beside her, who gave her a thumbs up and a wide smile.

"Why don't I escort you, kiddo? Make sure you don't pass out and get you home in time for dinner. I know plenty of short cuts." Sans offered, getting a smile and a nod in return.

"That sounds great, Sans. Thanks." The brown-haired girl responded with a smile, her head tilting slightly to the side.

Toriel hummed a bit at the sight, her own head tilting to the side. "Are you sure, Sans? I've been looking forward to having you try some of my pie." Sans chuckled a bit, turning towards the woman and giving her a wink.

"Don't worry, Tori. We'll be back before you know it. You won't confuse us for ingredients." With that and a small laugh, he began to walk off with Frisk by his side, not noticing the two red eyes glaring at him while he walked. The rest of the group just blinked blankly at his parting words, each staring with a confused expression on their faces.

It would be another fifteen minutes before Toriel finally got it and nearly dropped a cooking pan from laughing.

* * *

Frisk and Chara both blinked, looking around curiously at their current location. Bright gold walls and pillars going across the whole room, while various windows flooded it with a potentially natural light. They had just been walking away from the group, passing through the darkness of the door that separated it from the tunnel that led to New Home, when they suddenly found themselves here. Chara let out an annoyed sound at the realization, her arms crossing across her chest.

"*We have got to figure out how he does that." She mumbled in annoyance, staring right at the back of the skeleton man who brought them into the room.

Frisk nodded in agreement, a small smile on her face while she stepped towards Sans, who had simply walked away from them once they entered the room. "Sans? Did you forget something in here?" She questioned curiously, but her expression fell to worry as the small skeleton turned towards her with darkened eyes, his smile seeming somehow more forced than usual.

"Sorry, kiddo, just brought you here for one thing." He slid his hands into his pockets and his eyes flashed to life in his sockets, making Frisk frown in confusion and worry from the intensity of his gaze. On the other hand, Chara was openly glaring at the man, her body protectively floating in front of Frisk, despite knowing that anything Sans did would just go right through her. But, after a moment, Sans let out a sigh, his intensity fading as he just shrugged his shoulders, his smile tilting downward slightly while he regarded her with something akin to reluctance.

"Let's chat."

* * *

 _ **Chapter... END!**_

 _ **Now for Trivia regarding this chapter! I'll switch out of bold for the actual explanation parts for those. Don't read if you don't care, though. These are just little bits of stuff that I'm never going to actually say in the story itself, beyond vague hinting, and overall not knowing them won't affect you understanding the plot... But it might help.**_

" **Frisk and Chara's Appearance"**

Originally, Frisk was actually going to have red eyes as well, but I decided to instead mark that as a form of empowerment from Chara instead. There's subtle differences in their appearance that mark them apart from each other, but you'd still think they were twins if you could see them side to side.

" **Frisk/Chara's Forms"**

Frisk and Chara have several forms while controlling Frisk's body, excluding their default "real" forms where they're separated. Apart from those, there are a few you've already seen or been hinted at. The first, if I'm recalling my own story correctly, is when Chara "fuses" with Frisk and has one eye open while having marks on her cheeks.

This is the "Frisk Empowered" form with Chara in control. The other was seen this chapter with both eyes being slightly open with glowing red eyes, but no marks on her cheeks. This is the "Two Become One" form and possibly the strongest one they have. Maybe.

The last you've seen clearly is the "Depowered" Form where Chara remained inside of Frisk's mental state, but Frisk didn't show any of the power she had before.

Her eyes were still red during this stage, but you couldn't see them since she did that squinting thing again. This isn't really the end of their forms, either, but it's the only ones you've seen. More to come later... Maybe.

" **Character Dialog"**

The Dialog in this story was originally meant to be a lot heavier when it came to the other characters. While most of the stuff written above was improvised on the spot, such as the Battle Body Ride, a lot of stuff I wanted to write down for people to say was tossed aside. The hug, for instance, was going to have a big group hug, but I couldn't think of a way to casually push ahead since the chapter was already extremely long as is, so meh! Sorry, no group hug yet.

As for the "Its, her, they" thing that some of the characters do when talking about Frisk... Kind of depends on how they feel at that time. That is all.

Now for the the bigger things.

" **Asgore vs Frisk/Chara"**

First I want to address the breakaways for the fight, like when Toriel is remembering Chara. Not originally planned, but I don't really like stepping back in time after a big event, y'know? So while it did ruin the pacing a bit, and that will be "fixed" for future fights, I felt like it was needed. Especially since this was, essentially, the Tutorial fight for them. But anyways...

Originally, this was supposed to be a much more intense fight. Asgore's weapon was supposed to come out right from the get-go, but after dealing with Toriel's "Don't hurt my child!" line, I realized that Asgore himself would never do that without reason. With the barrier gone, all of his reason to actually fight Frisk went out the window. He was already free and his people were safe, so I realized that he had no real reason to put his all into this fight. This _spar_.

Along with that, I tried to work around it by having Frisk taunt him, claiming that he'll want to pull his weapon out if he wants to beat her. However, this felt slightly out of character even for the obviously Determination-Drugged Frisk basking in her glory of undoing the Battle System. Plus as I was writing that line, I remembered what Path we were on. True Pacifist. Which makes you reset to _before_ you fight Asgore. Frisk knew this. Chara knew this. Which means they knew that Asgore had no memory of _ever_ showing off his weapon to Frisk. Taunting him would have raised too many questions, and so the battle was touched up accordingly.

Now one thing I want to address very clearly about this fight is that Asgore _did_ have the instincts of a fighter. Something hinted heavily at with Undyne. He even had a lot of magic at his disposal that broke our Mercy button in canon, although he kept that on the down-low since, once again, True Pacifist never saw that. But the reason I point these things out is that I feel like I should say Asgore wasn't really giving it his all, even up at the end. He was reacting, sure, but his heart wasn't in it and he was honestly more surprised that he was battling that way again after so long.

So did Frisk/Chara really win? In the eyes of the "System", yes, because he surrendered. But if this had been Neutral Asgore? If the barrier wasn't down? He might've taken a few hits out of surprise, but if he was seriously trying to kill Frisk like he does in the Neutral Route...

Well, let's just say he earns that musical title of "Strongest Monster" from the "System" for a reason.

Oh, also, the reason the Stained Apron flies off at the start there instead of being a minor plot point and it kind of got dropped after that anyways...

I forgot Frisk was wearing it. Seriously, I wrote the next part of Frisk charging forward like... a minute or two after they equipped the Stained Apron and I totally forgot they put it on. Was about to the point where Frisk used Fire Blast that I realized I forgot about it. Went back and "Fixed" that, but after all that fighting, it's now lost to time, buried under dirt and dust.

May you rest in peace, Stained Apron. Perhaps you'll come back one day thanks to your passive.

Speaking of: HP does exist in that Battle. It just wasn't a factor since neither of them actually took damage. The Pan, on the other hand, did take some heavy damage, but not quite as much as it did in my original draft for the fight. The original draft had Asgore impaling it with his trident, all the way through, and then Frisk using that to pull the weapon from his hands.

Maybe that'll happen in a more serious fight, if that ever comes to pass.

" **Frisk and Chara's Power/Speed"**

All of that was the Enhancement magic turned to max. Think of it like sending a burst of energy outside of their whole body, resulting in them rocketing forward, or whatever direction they wanted. That's how they were able to speed around Asgore so easily. Of course, this comes at a heavy cost, which is pretty clear in the writing, so I don't even feel like I should address it. But I will since this may be the last bit of trivia I do for this story.

Maybe. I'll be honest in saying that writing it makes me excited for the things to come, but a lot of it is still up in the air on how to get there.

Regardless, Frisk and Chara have a _lot_ of magic while they're together. But the lack of spells, training, and real threat makes them a lot less threatening than they seem to be at first glance. Chara is also not a master of magic by any means. While she has some training, she's barely a novice. Not to say neither of them can handle their own, though. Frisk is great at dodging, with or without the Battle System, and Chara has natural senses. That's how Asgore came to the conclusion of Frisk being a "natural fighter", due to the two fused together becoming nearly the perfect warrior. Just one that lacked training.

" **The Battle System?"**

I can't really go into this without revealing a lot of plot junk, but I will at least say/ask a few things. The first is that the "Music" part came to me on a whim. Originally, I just wrote "ASGORE", but then I realized that his specific set didn't work out. So I went with the next best thing: "Stronger Monsters" and then twisted it into "Strongest Monster." I'd like to think of it as a more metal version of Stronger Monsters, mixed with a gentle bit in the middle that explodes into a hardcore track. Like "Battle against a True Heroine" style.

Now for what I want to ask... Were the brackets annoying? The whole [Spell] → [Ect] thing. I'll still be doing them at least once, regardless, but were the repeating ones annoying? Like when I had Asgore use Mercy again and again? If not, then yay, but I might only do them once then say 'This happened again', or something if I ever get to a point like that again. Although with the System like this... Maybe that won't happen.

Speaking of, however, as for why the "Spell" and "Break" thing appeared... The System is aware. It is in canon as well. It's aware of what you can and can't do, but also of what you _want_ to do, or what your opponent(s) need from you. The System knew what they were trying to do, so it helped. This was never going to be addressed in the story itself, so I figured I'd put that here.

" **The Plot to Come"**

A lot of stuff is already planned out. I've got fights, I've got backstories, I've got villains, and heroes...

The only issue is _getting_ to them. But now that I've gone through and written all this, I've got a decent idea of what to do. A decent one, but not a great one, admittedly. A thing I want to do later might come off as a bit hamfisted, but we'll see if I can work around it.

 _ **Sorry for the massive wall of text that, ultimately, means nothing for the story overall. But I figured some people may want to know and maybe get a bit of insight into my mind on where this story was/is going.**_

 _ **Hope you enjoyed and feel free to ask anything. I only promise to try not to spoil if you ask to not spoil.**_


	5. The Chat(s)

_**Another chapter! And another edited A/N in order to benefit future readers! Decided to remove all the plot junk I was talking about for the sake of people that realize I lied early on and that this does have a decent plot idea behind it now. Hope you enjoy!**_

 _ **I will say again, though, that this is meant to be seen from Frisk and Chara's perspective, meaning you won't be giving any real insight to other characters unless the perspective switches or I do a bit of an extra. All of their feelings during a chat or something will be seen from Frisk's eyes, so you won't know if someone is being played until I decide to tell you.**_

 _ **But anyways... Onward!**_

"Talking is like this."

" _Thoughts are like this." Or_ ' _This'_

 _Text is just like this._

 **[System Actions] → [Are like this]**

"*Narrator Talk is like this." _"*But like this if it's from the mind state."_

* * *

"Let's chat."

Frisk and Chara both tilted their heads at the words coming out of the skeleton's unopened mouth, both sporting confused expressions. But despite her confusion, Chara didn't move from her guarded position in front of Frisk, despite knowing such an effort was fruitless. Frisk understood the gesture, too, knowing that Chara was always on guard when it came to the skeleton. Ever since their interaction in the restaurant.

The last time Sans sported such a serious expression, with darkened eyes, was when he claimed that _"You'd be dead where you stand"_ if not for his promise to Toriel to keep them safe. This flipped Chara's opinion of him completely around. While she seemed oddly excited to see him at first, followed by confused amusement at his jokes, teasing methods, and his affection for his best brother; that excitement fell to nothing but hatred and suspicion after the skeleton's claim on their life. While Chara didn't outright say this was the reason, Frisk knew she didn't trust anyone that had killed her before, or threatened to.

Someone coming right up and saying that their job was to _protect you_ , after dealing with various resets already from the monsters around Snowdin, and not to mention the two deaths to Undyne and several others... It infuriated Chara beyond control, though she tried to not show it.

But Frisk could feel that anger and resentment coming from her partner clear as day. The Fallen Hero knew it would be a long time before Chara ever let that anger go away, since she was a professional at bottling them up until they came out in a pitiful laughter of self hatred. Something made very clear with their interactions with Asriel. Although there were occasions where she just let everything out, though only when she knew only Frisk was the one going to hear her. But even that didn't erase anything, it just gave her a way to vent.

Frisk shook her head slightly, giving Sans a confused smile as her head tilted to the side, pushing her concerns for her best friend aside for now. "About what?" She questioned with a casual tone, though she was expecting him to ask about her magic or the Battle System being broken apart in the fight with Asgore.

Her tone seemed to just make Sans even more nervous, a bead of sweat going down the side of his round head. "Well, kiddo, I just gotta know how many times you tried that whole... breaking thing." He shrugged slightly, his fingers moving inside the pockets of his jacket. "Y'know, how long did it take to work?" Frisk frowned at his question, her right eyebrow arching slightly.

"*This guy blind or something? He was watching the whole time." Chara grumbled with an irritated look, her guard falling very slightly since it was clear Sans wasn't going to start charging at them. "*What a bone head. It's like his eye sockets are just for show."

The light joke made Frisk's lips twitch upwards a bit, though she didn't notice the slight flinch from Sans' that her reaction caused. She pondered his words for a moment before shrugging slightly, deciding that it was best to answer the best she could. "About.. three, I think. I figured it out on the second, but it took three to work." Sans hummed a bit, his eyes closing while he let out a slight chuckle.

"Three, huh? That's not terrible, I guess. Could be worse." He rubbed the back of his head with his right hand, humming thoughtfully. "Mm.. Yeah, could definitely be worse. 'Cause don't get me wrong here Frisk, you've been doing good. I'm really proud." Frisk smiled a bit at the praise, though her eyebrows were tilted towards each other in confusion at the nervous tone Sans had. He gave her a slight chuckle again, opening his right eye with his grin growing even more nervous. "So... What's next?"

Frisk hummed a bit, scrunching her nose up slightly at his question. "Uh... I'm not... really sure." She admitted, crossing her arms across her chest. She pretended not to notice his expression falling, or the eye roll she felt from Chara. "I might try to figure out how to make it happen from the outside... Just to make sure the System doesn't... activate..." She trailed off, a frown on her face, which Sans took as a prompt to talk.

"Yeah, about that... What's the deal with all that?" He waved his hand slightly in the air beside his head. "Y'know, breaking the System, making yourselves all move around and junk just to fight anyways..." Frisk squirmed a bit, watching Sans put his hand back into his pocket, staring at her with a curious yet still nervous look.

The Fallen Hero took a moment to respond, her head tilting down to look at the ground. "It's... a bit scary, don't you think? The Battle System." Sans arched his nonexistent eyebrow at her in response and, for a moment, even Chara looked back with her own curious expression, but quickly focused on Sans again in case he began to try anything. Frisk rubbed a bit at her arm, a frown on her face. "Being suddenly pulled into a fight where the only thing you can see is your Soul... Not knowing what's going on, and then suddenly having to move around as a heart... It's scary." Her words were quiet as always, but with a much more somber tone to them, having experienced that fear dozens... No, _hundreds_ of times.

But she wasn't alone in those situations. Not like everyone else. Chara was always with her... and if Frisk could help it, she always would be in some shape or form. But Sans didn't get that. She could tell, especially by the way he shrugged, his eyes closing.

"Maybe, can't say I really get it. You seemed to be doing pretty well though." He pointed out, grinning a bit wider, as if he knew something she didn't. "After all... You're still alive, right? Can't be that scary." He chuckled slightly, staring right at Frisk's neutral expression, though his mouth twitched downward, as if sensing the negative feelings Frisk was trying to hide... and he wasn't the only one.

"*Bullshit!" Chara suddenly snapped in anger, her fist slamming into the skeleton's face... with no effect at all, as her knuckles just went through his skull. The sudden action made Frisk jump a bit, while Sans blinked, not able to feel or even notice the second punch Chara threw his way, but confused by the sudden jump. "*You can't even do your damn job, you stupid skeleton! I gave you one job, _one, and you failed it!_ You bone head! No wonder you hate making promises since you can never keep them you piece of shit!" Her words were amplified by the constant punches she was sending his way, her form beginning to waver in the air due to the magic beginning to flow around her. "*Haven't died once!? Once I get the power to touch you, I'm going to punch you so hard in your stupid smug face, it'll make your nose sink in! Oh wait, you already _nose_ you messed up! Maybe that's why you _don't have one!_ "

Her words and actions still caused no change in Sans himself, but the skeleton man did scrunch his face up in confusion at the worried look Frisk was sending his way, or rather, _Chara's_ way. " _Chara! Calm down! It's okay! He doesn't know!"_ She cried out mentally to her partner, her face twisted with worry that began to mirror itself on Sans' face.

"Yo, buddy, you alright?" The overall nervousness of the man seemed to be gone, buried by the concern now heavy in his voice. His flip in attitude unknowingly made Chara's rage grow even more, a feral scream coming from the girl's form as she kicked hard at his chest, her arms flailing about.

"*Oh now you're worried, you garbage!? Just when I think I've got your personality _marrowed down!?_ Haha!" She grabbed at his shoulders, or at least slipped her hands through them, her face an inch away from his with her eyes glowing with an insane rage. "*GET IT!? _MARROWED?_ It's a PUN! A _skeleton_ pun! Too bland for you? Don't worry! I've got a _ton_ , _a skele-ton._ Oh wait! I don't! I'm a ghost! Fuck!" With her last cry of outrage, the girl suddenly kicked at Sans' chest, or at least appeared to, and sent herself flying backwards, going right over the head of her still-faced partner.

With her own expression going blank, Chara laid in the air, staring up at the golden ceiling with her arms and legs spread wide apart. "*I'm done. You can talk now." She stated with a calm voice, her rage only bubbling beneath the surface now, which Frisk could only feel the tip of. But despite the explosion of anger and the amount of discomfort Chara was releasing into the connection the two humans had...

Frisk couldn't help but feel extremely amused from Chara's outburst. She _wanted_ to laugh. But with Sans already staring at her like she was sick, that would've freaked him out... and she wasn't really sure she could explain why. So she just stood there with her face blank, her insides bubbling with unreleased laughter, and a subtle sadness that her friend was so upset.

 _'This is what it's like to be_ pun _ished, I guess.'_ She couldn't help but think, a slight 'pfft..' escaping her lips from her own joke.

Sans just stared, rubbing the side of his head slowly. "Uhh... Okay, so anyways..." He cleared his throat, or lack there of, and turned himself to the side, glancing out the bright windows of the hall. "So the whole reason you did this was because the System was scary? I mean, I don't see it, but I guess I've known it all my life. Is it not there on the surface?" The shift in subject, or rather, the _focus_ on the subject allowed Frisk to push her laughter down further, her head nodding slightly in response to Sans' question.

"It is, but … Humans don't really know magic up there." She frowned a bit at her own words, her eyebrows narrowing together. "Or... I don't think they do, at least. I never saw any use magic up there or heard about it." Sans hummed a bit, turning towards her again with his mouth twitching into a straight line.

"Yeah? Well, I'm pretty sure a couple can. I mean, I'm staring right at one that just tossed a fireball a few minutes ago." Frisk flinched from the accusing tone, grimacing a bit while she rubbed at the back of her neck.

"That... That's just me, though... I mean..." She squirmed, glancing behind herself to look at Chara, though to Sans it only looked like a slight turn of the head. But for once the red-eyed girl was of no help, just staring blankly up at the ceiling with her anger bubbling deep inside herself. Seeing and sensing that Chara wasn't going to assist, she turned her gaze back towards the smirking Sans, giving him a nervous smile. "I never met any in the city I was from at least."

"Hm." Sans grunted, his smirk growing even wider. "Then how'd you learn how to use fire magic like that? Think you said it was a friend or something, right?" He chuckled a bit at the slightly pained expression Frisk was wearing and he suddenly waved his hand a bit in the air, his eyes closing. "Nah, don't worry. I gotcha. You just reset a bunch after learning it from Tori or something, right? Or maybe Asgore?" Silence was the only response... and Sans slowly cracked an eye open, his smile falling upon seeing Frisk's shocked expression, though it was just her mouth hanging open. "Uh, what, kid? Got something on my face?"

"Y... You know about the resets?" Frisk choked out after a moment, taking a small step back in surprise. Behind her, Chara finally propped herself up, her form falling in front of her partner's with her eyes wide in alarm. The Fallen Human's arms were outstretched in a protective manner, in case Sans decided to try something after all.

But, ironically, Sans seemed as surprised as they were, his face falling and his eyes narrowing in confusion, which was also evident in his voice.

"Wait, what? We were just talking about that. I asked how many times it took you to..."

"Er..." Frisk interrupted, holding her finger up in the air with a nervous smile. "I was talking about turns... Like in the System." Sans blinked slowly, then his eyes widened with the revelation before narrowing in suspicion, to which Frisk quickly held her hands up in a defensive manner, slightly touching Chara's back while she did. "W.. Wait, uh, I didn't know you meant the resets when you asked, so..."

"I get it, kid." Sans squeezed out, his voice coming out more forced than he probably meant it to. "But if you didn't know I knew about the resets, then what's your real answer? How many times, kid? How many times have you toyed with our lives and reset?" The brown and auburn haired girls frowned at his words, with Chara mouthing 'Toyed with?' to herself, while Frisk just tilted her head, her expression confused and concerned.

"Um... I've never reset to mess with anyone... I mean, I've used the Load ability... a lot, but I've only reset.. uh... Twice? I think?" Her questioning tone wasn't lost on her partner, who turned her red-eyed gaze back to her, her shoulders shrugging.

"*Technically, just once. You kind of just never saved at the Ruins until after we reset that one time, so your first load was a technical reset, I think." The unspoken _"The time you died to our so called Mother"_ was felt between the two, but Frisk didn't remark on it, instead focusing on the slightly chuckling Sans.

"Only twice, huh? And what's this Load thing you said? What prompted that? Messed up a conversation? Tossed an item you didn't mean to? Killed someone?" His tone was nervous and accusing, yet there was a bit of hope in his voice. A hope that Frisk was finally being able to grasp an understanding of, after hearing what he was accusing her of. But his words also made Chara's rage begin to raise to the surface, prompting Frisk to put a comforting hand on her back, which just looked like an open palm being pointed at him from Sans' view.

"Wait, Sans... I never..." She started, only to pause with a frown coming to her face, her hand slowly sliding down and then falling off Chara's ethereal form, down to her side. "I can't... tell you why I've loaded, but it's never been because I killed someone. That's what the reset was for." She squirmed at the twitch of Sans' form and she slowly rubbed at the back of her right palm, the same one that had held the Stick so long ago... "I... raised my hand to a monster in the ruins when it jumped at me... The System took it as an attack... and I..."

She stopped, tears beginning to brim on the bottom of her barely opened eyes, making the dark look covering Sans face suddenly fall into a shocked expression, his mouth slightly opening for once. Chara, on the other hand, instantly spun into action, her body twisting around Frisk's and hugging the girl from behind. "*You feel your sins crawling on your back..." Chara softly whispered, her arms around the slightly smaller girl's waist and her cold breath tickling the tanned neck in front of her. "*But they fly away.. as they have already been more than atoned for."

The reassuring words, gentle tone, and especially the breath made Frisk's body shiver slightly. But she wiped away her tears and smiled kindly at Sans, who was rubbing the back of his head with a bit of regret on his face now. _"Thank you, Chara."_ Frisk thought to her Narrator, making sure the girl felt how much she appreciated the gesture. The Dreamurr just hugged tighter at the feeling, not commenting, so Frisk turned her attention back to the skeleton in front of her.

"That's the only reason I've reset, Sans. To right that wrong. But..." She paused, rubbing a bit at the hand on her hip for reassurance. "I've... loaded a lot, I can't deny that."

The skeleton nodded a bit, humming thoughtfully and staring at her for a long moment... before he let out a sigh, his hands going back into his pockets. "Look, kid, don't get me wrong here. You've done great and if you're telling the truth, then I really got no reason to accuse you of anything... But promise me you won't _ever_ reset this... Not when we're so close." Frisk nodded without hesitation, her face full of determination.

"Of course. The only time I'd ever reset is... is if something happened I couldn't reload from..." Sans smile tilted into a slight frown and he let out another sigh.

"Right... Well, why don't you tell me how loading works, at least? See if we can't work out an agreement for that." Frisk slowly nodded in response, but hesitated as she felt Chara stiffen behind her, their forms being able to feel each other due to Chara's determination to comfort her friend.

"*Don't tell him everything. He doesn't deserve it." She hissed out, glaring at the pun loving skeleton over Frisk's shoulder.

But the girl just smiled in response, her hand slightly squeezing Chara's own, though Sans seemed to not notice. _"Sorry, Chara, but I think we can trust him... We have no reason not to."_ She reasoned, though her partner just scoffed.

"*I can think of a few _hundred_." She spat, her eyes glaring with hatred. Frisk winced slightly, feeling the fingers gripping her hips. "*If you're telling him the truth, then let _me_ tell him the _whole_ truth."

" _No. Not while you're like this."_ Came the instant response, though there was nothing but affection in the words, which brought Chara nothing but annoyance. _"Maybe later, once you calm down. Besides, we're kind of running on a timer here. Mom will get upset if we miss dinner."_

"*Tch, whatever." Chara grumbled out, resting her chin on the shoulder in front of her, doing nothing to hide the irritation she felt.

Frisk giggled slightly, making Sans squirm a bit, since he wasn't privy to her feelings, but Frisk paid it no mind. "Loading works by having me Save at a point where I feel really determined..." She slightly pointed back at the door behind them, towards New Home. "Like at the start of that fight with Asgore... so that's as far as I can Load right now... I think?" She scrunched her nose up slightly, checking her Load just to make sure.

 **[Chara – LV 1 / BLV 3 – Ti-3-1-00000]**

 **[A Broken Barrier – ASGORE- Access Code 237-2 (B)]**

 **[*Load?] [Cancel] [Options]**

The girl frowned a bit at the confusing amount of text the System was sending her way. While she wasn't exactly sure if her resets and the Battle System were connected too deeply, this seemed to at least imply there was some connection she wasn't privy to. The usual spot that listed how long she had been in the Underground was gone, replaced with some seemingly random numbers, and the save spot that was created before the Asgore fight seemed to have glitched itself out as well, having some "Access Code" attached to it...

"*Weird." Chara said, voicing both of their thoughts while she looked at the mental menu over Frisk's shoulder. To them, it was like a black box appeared in front of them with the text on it, while to Sans it was completely invisible. "*Looks like breaking that fight made things mess up..." She hummed thoughtfully, her eyes narrowing slightly with curiosity. "*Check your other menu. The stats and junk."

Frisk nodded her consent, closing the Loading screen and starting to open the Stat and Item menu, though she hesitated as Sans began to talk, chuckling softly.

 **[Chara – LV 1 / BLV 3 – Ti-3-1-00000]**

 **[A Broken Barrier – ASGORE- Access Code 237-2 (B)]**

 **[Load?] [*Cancel] [Options]**

"Where you feel determined, huh? That makes sense..." He muttered, humming slightly. "And I'm guessin' you can only have one, huh?" A slight nod was the response, the girl not trusting her voice while she focused on opening up the Stat menu. "But if you can only have one... Why do you load so much?" He questioned, pressing for even more information now that it was out of the bag that Frisk had the power to Save, Load, and Reset all at once. With the potential object of his fears coming to light, he wanted to know more, just so he could be sure Frisk wasn't a threat.

Which was something Frisk understood as well.

"I know what you're thinking Sans." She responded with a sad tone, though she still had a slight smile on her face, staring at a black rectangle that began to fill itself with information in front of her. "I'll admit I thought of doing stuff like that... Going back just to change something I didn't like. Like when I bought some Temmie flakes." Her nose scrunched up a bit, looking up at Sans with the best annoyed expression she could make with her eyes almost closed. "Did you know those are just pieces of paper with glitter on them? I thought they'd be like cereal or something." Sans' and Chara both snorted a bit in amusement, causing Frisk to puff her cheeks up in irritation. "It's not funny! I nearly ate a handful of them!"

Her claim only made the other two even more amused and she huffed with a slight pout, looking down at her Menu just to avoid the amused look Sans was sending her way.

 **[Chara LV 1 / BLV 3. HP: 20/20 (+5). G: 351]**

 **[*Item] [Stat] [Cell] [Spells]**

 **["Chara" LV 1 / BLV 3. HP/20/20 (+5 In Battle)]**

 **[AT 0 (+6) (+2) DF 0 (+0) (+1) EXP / XP 0 (10) Next 10 (4)]**

 **[Weapon: Dented Burnt Pan. Armor: Discarded.]**

 **[Gold: 351]**

Chara's amusement fell away while she stared at the stat menu, her nose scrunching up in confusion while she studied the mix of numbers suddenly in front of her partner. It wasn't her name being there instead of Frisk's that confused her, since that seemed to always be the case for some reason, but instead the new numbers that seemed to have popped up. It was definitely different than before they fought Asgore.

Frisk kept her own surprise off her face and instead kept talking, not wanting to make Sans think she wasn't paying attention to him. "But I've only loaded twice for selfish reasons... The first... was to become friends with everyone." Now it was Sans amusement that fell off, his face darkening while Frisk mentally moved her marker towards the Spells option out of curiosity, though her face and voice remained a sad, somber tone and her marker hesitated in selecting. "I got out, you know? I left the Underground by myself. Asgore let me."

 **[Item] [Stat] [Cell] [*Spells]**

Chara scoffed at her words, knowing full well that _Asgore_ didn't just _let_ her go, but Frisk ignored the annoyance Chara was feeling and continued talking to Sans. "But I wasn't satisfied. He died for it, even though I didn't want him to. I even tried giving him my own soul... to see if he could break the barrier with it." Her smile turned bitter, looking up at Sans surprised expression, though it was nothing more than his eyes being a bit wider than usual. "I couldn't do it, though. My body wouldn't go through with it."

"*Like I'd let you anyways." Chara grumbled in irritation from behind, even though she had tried and failed to stop Frisk from giving Asgore her soul multiple times. Every time the Fallen Hero tried, though, she loaded out of instinct. It was a silver lining with Frisk's personality, in Chara's opinion. One that the Princess had to admit she was grateful for.

" _*Even though you want to help people so badly that you aren't afraid of getting hurt... You don't want to die, either."_ Chara had said to the revived human, who was staring at her hands in disbelief after just loading back to the room before they encountered Asgore. _"*It's a good thing, Frisk. It means you aren't suicidal. I wouldn't want a partner that kept throwing themselves into danger just because. You've got a reason, but it's not because you hate yourself."_

Frisk had just looked so devastated that the plan hadn't worked, since it had already become very clear that Mercy wasn't an option when it came to the King. He just wouldn't accept it, no matter how many times she tried to talk through it. Even telling him she had died _too many times to count_ trying to reason with him did nothing. The sight had caused her partner to just sigh, her arms crossing over her ethereal chest.

" _*We did it your way."_ Chara had began, her red eyes glowing with the rage that had been growing ever since it had been said Asgore had killed six other human _children_ just for their souls. _"*Now we try it my way. You don't have to kill him. But you have to hurt him. He's stubborn to a fault when he thinks he's doing the right thing."_ The hurt look sent towards the ghost's way made her shudder, but...

A sudden beep brought Chara's attention back to reality, her eyebrow arching at the menu now floating in front of Frisk's form, while the girl kept talking as if nothing was different.

 **[Spells] [MP: 5 (+100) (+?) (+50)]**

 **[*Fire Spells] [Arcane] [System] [Passives]**

"I wasn't okay with that. With him dying just so I could leave." Frisk muttered, slowly going through each different spell menu with her mental marker, briefly noting the confusion Chara was feeling from seeing the new MP stat. "So I loaded back and avoided him for awhile... Which I'm pretty sure he was okay with and... the rest you know, I think." She looked up at Sans when she said this, her eyebrow arching slightly. "The whole Alphys date thing and all... and the flower." The last part was said a bit reluctantly, not really wanting to delve into that conversation.

 **[Fire Spells] → [Fire Ball (0-10)] [Fire Blast (15-25)] [Fire Shower (1-15)] [Torch (1)]**

"Sort of." Sans agreed, chuckling a bit at the recent memory, while pointedly ignoring the mention of the flower. Relief was flowing through the skeleton from Frisk's words, feeling glad that a human like this was the one with the power to Reset, but he pushed for more information still, knowing this might be the last time they really talk about it. "But what about the other time you were talking about? Did something happen again?" The pained look on Frisk's face made him regret his choice of pushing for more, but he didn't try to undo what he did.

"... Sort of." The Fallen Hero sighed, mimicking Sans a bit while her hands went behind her back, wrapping themselves around Chara's waist, much to the ghost girl's embarrassment. But she didn't pull away, since she was still holding onto Frisk's waist as well... which she felt would be admitting defeat in some way.

"*I'm not going to lose. Your position is way more awkward." Chara mumbled with her already red cheeks growing redder, feeling Frisk's hands playing with her ghostly sweater. Frisk's lips just twitched upwards at her claim, though Chara could feel the determination to "win" flowing through their connection as well. "*I'm not going to lose. I'm way more stubborn than you."

With a shrug of her shoulders, Frisk moved her marker to the next selection of spells to see what they said, though she made sure to speak to Sans at the same time so he didn't notice, just to keep the questions a bit more minimal... For both their sakes.

She cleared her throat slightly, making her moves slowly so she could focus on her words. "I don't really think you want to hear the reason, but I'll say that the Battle System was involved. That's... why I'm trying to deal with all this." She sighed slightly, watching Sans rub the side of his head for a moment before putting his hand back into his pocket.

"I see... Well, normally kid, I'd take you up on not wanting to know. But I'm already here, we're already talking, and..." He chuckled, winking at her with his left eye. "You know me, if I stop talking now, I'll probably fall asleep." Frisk smiled a bit at him, her voice taking a teasing tone.

"Lazy bones. You'll make Papyrus mad." She lightly teased, causing the skeleton man to just shrug, chuckling.

"Probably. Pap is probably already mad we're taking so long, though..." He shook his head a bit and leaned back on his heels, his slippers making a soft brushing noise against the ground. "But really, kid, what happens? Or will telling me mess something up?" Frisk's smile turned to a frown and she focused on the spells being listed in front of her, trying to think of what to say.

 **[Arcane] → [Physical Enhancement (0-50 / T)]**

 **[Spirit Fusion (0)] [System Break (30)] [Heal (0-?)]**

Her eyebrow twitched upwards at the spells and she could feel Chara _hum_ against her shoulder, seeming surprised by the sight as well. "*Wonder what those numbers mean? Maybe how much MP they can use? But I also used the Enhancement one a lot in short bursts... Doesn't seem to actually be an option, though." She remarked, looking over the "/ T" beside the spell. "*Unless that means Time or something."

" _Dunno."_ Frisk responded mentally, already closing the menu and starting to move her marker to the third spell list. All while her hands fiddled with the sweater behind her, pushing Chara a bit closer to her body just to embarrass the fallen girl... and for support. She could feel Chara's annoyed embarrassment through their connection, but the Princess of Monsters just rolled her eyes on the outside, letting out an annoyed _huff_.

Slightly shaking her head, Frisk frowned towards the skeleton in front of her, who was wiggling a bit nervously on his feet from the human's silence. "I really don't think you want to know, Sans." She assured him, her own body wiggling a bit while she opened up the System spell list. "It's not that I can't tell you, it's just... I don't want you doing anything super rash."

 **[System] → [(L)Blue] [Orange] [Summon] [Break] [Absorb(Disabled)] [Gray]**

 **[Disabled] [Soul Color Shift. Current: (Red). Available: Blue, Green, Purple, Yellow (Cell).]**

"*Blue and Orange? I was never taught that type of magic... or Summon, for that matter." Chara noted, her face scrunching up in annoyance. "*Every time we open a menu up I just get more and more confused. Can we get a damn manual or something?" She sighed in annoyance, her right eye closing due to a bit of Frisk's hair rubbing against it. "*Oh well, at least we know now, I guess. The Color things are probably those moves used against us before... Wonder how they work in the broken System?" Frisk shrugged very slightly, not wanting to really disrupt Chara's chin on her shoulder, and began to go to the last menu, though she glanced up at Sans' sigh.

He was rubbing the back of his head, his grin not any different from usual, yet still seeming a bit upset. "Yeah, guess you're right, kid. I'll trust you on this, alright?" Frisk smiled a bit sadly at the reluctant tone he had, but she quickly shifted her expression to what she hoped was a reassuring one, giving him a sharp nod.

"Don't worry, Sans. I won't let anything happen to anyone, okay? And I don't plan on resetting." The girl declared, nodding her head slightly. Sans just chuckled a bit, his eyes closing slowly.

"What about Loading?" He wondered aloud, but quickly shook his head, despite not seeing the slight flinch of Frisk's body. "Nah, never mind kid. I'm rootin' for ya." He waved his hand a bit dismissively at his own words, his eyes still closed.

"*Let me tell him." Chara growled softly, her grip on Frisk becoming lighter as her body began to become completely ethereal once more, though her eyes glowed brighter than ever.

" _No. Not right now. Maybe later."_ Frisk instantly responded, opening up the last extra menu on the Spell list.

 **[Passives] → [Denied. LV 10 or BLV 20 required to view passives.]**

" _Well, that first one is definitely not happening, but I wonder what's with the sudden denial?"_ The Fallen Hero wondered to herself, frowning a bit as she felt Chara's form begin to float away from her. _"Don't be like that Char_ Ah!" She suddenly jumped, feeling a slight pinch on her hip right before Chara completely became a ghost once again. Frisk's cheeks burned red at the surprised look Sans was sending her way, along with the cheeky grin Chara sent her while she floated past.

"You alright, kid?" Sans questioned cautiously, watching Frisk nervously rub the back of her head while letting out a slight laugh, closing the menus in front of herself mentally.

"A... Aha, I just remember we're kind of on a time limit, aren't we? Mom is gonna be really mad if we're late for dinner." Her nervous smile grew a bit at the surprised blink he sent her way, a soft chuckle coming out afterward.

"Yeah, you're probably right about that. Where'd you wanna go again?" Frisk smiled a bit, starting to walk towards her friend with her hands going back down to her sides.

"The Ruins, if that's okay?" Sans shrugged a bit, starting to turn away and head down the long hallway to the door at the end.

"Can't take you inside there, but I'll drop you off at the door at least. Need to grab a few things from the house anyways." The human tilted her head while she followed him, with Chara floating behind. The ghostly girl had her arms behind her head and one leg crossed over the other while she "laid" on her back in the air, yawning a bit while she hovered near the back of Frisk's head.

"There's no... uh... Shortcuts to the Ruins?" The girl questioned, getting a slight nod from Sans as the two neared the end of the hall.

"Yep. Only one even near it is..." The two humans felt a shift in reality and an instant chill took to the air, making Frisk shiver slightly as the snow around them brushed against her tanned legs. Sans, either not noticing or not caring, didn't even react to the snow hitting against his head as he held his hand up to the large door right in front of them that was currently wide open, letting the snow from the outside flow past it. "... right here."

"*A cold wind flows around you. You briefly wonder how Toriel, of all people, forgot to shut the door." Chara narrated, floating past the two and humming as she looked past the door to the tunnel ahead, staring down at the snow that rudely made itself comfortable inside. "*I guess Sans took a wrong turn. Because we're Snowedin."

Sans chuckled a bit, as if hearing the joke, turning towards the smiling Frisk with his own large smile. "Welp, I'll be back in a bit to pick you up, Frisk. Don't get yourself Snowedin."

"*Don't steal my joke!"

"I'll be okay." She quickly responded, ignoring Chara's outrage, and watched the small monster nod and turn away, starting to walk down the pathway that the two had met upon on the first time. Her smile grew a bit and she laughed, suddenly calling out to the monster. "Hey, Sans!" He turned his head curiously, only to find a hand a few inches away, stretched out to him. She gave him a grin, her head tilting to the side. "What? Don't you know how to greet a friend?" She lightly teased.

Sans stared for a long moment before chuckling, turning and grabbing Frisk's outstretched hand, though this time without a comical sound coming from the two. Instead, the only sound came from Sans as he laughed, his eyes closing and his smile wide, which Frisk happily mirrored.

Chara just rolled her eyes and scoffed.

* * *

 **[Item] [Stat] [*Cell] [Spells]**

 **[Cell] → [Call] [*Text] [UnderNet Login] [Box A] [Box B] [Disabled]**

"*What are you doing?" Chara asked with a curious look on her face while the two walked down the tunnel of the Ruins up into Home. Frisk was fiddling around with her cell phone, which Alphys had upgraded awhile ago, though it seemed that a few of the features had been disabled after their fight with Mettaton.

"Texting Mom to see if she wants us to bring anything from Home." Frisk responded with a light tone, though she tilted her head at the mass of "Missed Texts" listed on her screen. Curiously, she pressed the first one, which had apparently sent around the time they had been bothering Gerson for the story of the War. She hadn't actually bothered walking off the first time they had gone to the surface, excluding a brief trip back to New Home to get some water after the Asriel fight, so they had missed all of the messages Toriel would have potentially sent them.

 **[Dear Frisk,**

 **How are you? You have been wandering around for quite some time now. I hope you are not getting into trouble. Only kidding. L-O-L!**

 **Sincerly, Toriel... PS – Do not get into trouble.]**

"*What the hell is she even saying?" Chara questioned over Frisk's shoulder, her nose scrunched up slightly in confusion. "*What's L-O-L?"

"Lots of laughter, apparently." Frisk shrugged, her own nose scrunching up slightly. "I don't think she was actually laughing, though."

"*I do. She's weird..." The adopted Dreamurr stated, waving her hand slightly. "*Go to the next one." Frisk nodded her consent, going to the next missed message.

 **[Excuse me,**

 **I did not mean to write "sincerly". I meant to say "sincerely". It is difficult to use this with large hands.**

 **Perhaps I should ask Sans to transcribe for me.]**

"* _Uh oh_." Both Fallen Children whispered in unison, starting to walk up the stairs to Home. They both glanced at each other with a knowing look in their eyes, but turned back to the phone when Frisk pushed a button to go to the next message.

 **[Sans will be typing from now on.]**

"*Mom, no!" Chara laughed, her hand going over her eyes. "*I can't see anymore, Frisk. Please tell me she wasn't _that_ dumb! Please!"

Frisk just laughed, though inwardly she marveled at Chara calling Toriel 'Mom' on accident. She didn't poke at it, however, knowing Chara's guarded attitude when it came to such things. "You know Mom loves Sans. They're practically best friends now." She pointed out with a laugh, pressing to the next message, smiling when she saw Chara split her fingers apart to look.

 **[hey frisk.]**

"*Oh god, he's not even bothering to hide it."

 **[it's torrrrrrieelllll I just baked 1000000 pies. do you want any?**

 **make sure to brush your teeth before crossing the street, frisk.]**

"*What does that even mean!?" The floating human groaned out, her palms going down her face as she desperately tried to hold in her laughter. Frisk had no desire to do that, though, and was openly laughing while she walked through the house, smiling wide as she sat down in the large arm chair Toriel had read a book to them from. She wiggled a bit from the warm feeling it sent through her, seeming to have soaked in Toriel's natural warmth enough to stay warm, even long after she was gone.

Chara suddenly floated down in front of her, sitting down on her lap and grinning wide as she slid down a bit, resting the back of her head on Frisk's chest. "*Go to the next one." She demanded with a laugh. Frisk just smiled and nodded, putting her arms around Chara's head and going to the next missed message.

 **[I did not say any of that.]**

They both grinned and Frisk quickly went to the next one, though she hesitated slightly, seeing that there were only two more. She shrugged and pressed the button, knowing there wasn't going to be a true end to the gold messages anyways.

 **[Greetings. This is Sans. I love my brother very much.**

 **help im being slandered]**

Both humans broke out into laughter with Chara's form briefly falling through Frisk's lap and the chair, though she quickly floated back up into her spot with her determination flaring up, allowing her to rest against Frisk once again. "*Come _on, Mom!_ We're the only two that even say 'Greetings' and actually mean it!" She laughed, her red eyes sparkling. She waved her hands a bit, grinning up at Frisk's face above her. "*Next, next!"

"It's the last one." Frisk warned, her finger hovering over the button with a smile, while her chin rested on top of Chara's head. "So you know it's going to be good."

"*Duh. Mom never fails to make me laugh" Chara stated, though her face suddenly fell as she realized what she had been saying. A pained expression came to her face, along with a wave of regret going through her chest, but she suddenly felt a slap on her cheeks as Frisk grabbed them with the cell phone discarded beside her leg.

Chara was forced to tilt her head back, staring up into Frisk's eyes that were opened a bit more than usual, revealing the brown orbs with just a hint of red in the center that stared down at her with compassion and understanding...

The mixture of actions, emotions, and the person doing them made the Fallen Human unsure which one made her cheeks and heart burn so badly, but regardless, she was completely focused on the girl holding her, to the point that she couldn't bring herself to talk.

"Listen, Chara..." Frisk started, her voice having a gentle mothering tone to it that Chara was sure she was mimicking from Toriel. "You can't keep hating everyone because they killed me. I died, but we're still here, and they're all our friends. She's our mother... and she was your mother before she was mine. You can tell her later what she did... We can tell them all about the resets and loading if you want... But please, stop hating them for it." She tilted her head slightly, her thumbs softly rubbing at the two circles on Chara's bright red cheeks.

The action made them glow a darker red, though her red eyes turned away, trying to look at anything but the girl above her. But even if she could avoid the eyes, she couldn't avoid the warmth of Frisk's soul pushing against her own, basking her in the calm and wonderful tune that she had slowly grown accustomed to after all their time together. She could feel each pulse of the girl's understanding and kind nature, having grown so close that she could even get a vague idea what the other was thinking without it being broadcast across their thoughts.

... and so had Frisk.

The tanned girl let out a sigh, smiling knowingly while she let go of Chara's cheeks, picking the cell phone up off the side of the chair and holding it up again, while her eyes began to squint until they were almost closed once more. "I won't make you decide right away, just think about it, alright? But anyways, let's see what the last one says..." She pressed the button, smiling at the sight of Chara tilting her head up a bit more to look.

 **[This is Sans. Frisk, did you know that I love to "get owned"?**

 **I also think Toriel is very good and fhfjkehfeaufsisf**

 **Excuse me**

 **.]**

Both girls laughed, though Chara's was more of a chuckle, and Frisk closed the missed messages with a smile. "Okay, now I'll send her a message... Although I guess we can keep going anyways, huh?" She looked down with a slight smile at Chara's face, feeling the brief flash of annoyance across the girl's soul. "Is my Chara comfy?" Frisk teased lightly, her smile growing at the two red cheeks puffing up.

The Princess scoffed in a way that fit her title as she closed her eyes and stuck her nose up a bit... an action that might have been more imposing if she wasn't leaning onto Frisk's chest on her lap. "*Right now, you're the Chair-ah. So shush and text. She won't finish dinner that quick." Chara ordered with a tone that demanded no back talk. Frisk just chuckled a bit, leaning back in the chair slightly to get comfortable.

"Yes Princess, whatever you say." She chuckled, feeling another flash of embarrassment across her partner's soul while she texted Toriel.

 **[Text] → [Toriel (Mom]]**

 **[Hey, Cotton Candy, I'm down at your house in the Ruins right now. Want me to bring anything from here on my way back?]**

"*Do you have to flirt with everyone?" Chara complained with a roll of her eyes, though she had nothing but amusement in her voice. Frisk gasped dramatically at her words, holding a hand up to her chest in mock exasperation... Though it was a bit awkward, since it put her hand right above the auburn-haired head against her.

"How rude! I do not flirt with everyone." She huffed, turning her head to the side. Her partner just arched her eyebrows, holding her hands up and starting to count off her fingers.

"*You wiggled your hips at Moldsmald."

"But those curves!"

"*You said 'I didn't stand a ghost of a chance at resisting your charm' to Blooky... and then instantly said 'The way you make my heart flutter up my chest proves otherwise' when he said he'd weigh you down."

"He needed to smile! It was all I could think of!"

"*You made a plane _blush_."

"So quick to deny my love, but eager to bask in it. Reminded me of you." The off handed comparison made Chara's cheeks flush red, her eyes glaring up at Frisk's grinning face.

"* _And_..." Chara hissed out, trying to bury the fluttering feeling in her chest. "*You even flirted with Papyrus!"

Frisk just shrugged at the claim, her eyebrow arched slightly. "You can't really blame me for that one."

Chara frowned at the response, finding it rather hard to deny it since she would have done the same. "*... Okay, fair enough. But _still_..." A sudden beep drew their attention back to the cell phone, which Frisk held up with a smile, opening up the text they were just sent.

 **[Dear Frisk,**

 **You're at the Ruins already? Sans must know a lot of shortcuts to get there so quickly! But if you wouldn't mind, I'd like the small box of chocolates kept in the fridge. Everything else I will retrieve later. There is still some time until dinner will be ready, but please hurry back.**

 **See you soon; Toriel**

 **PS – Why did you call me Cotton Candy?]**

"*Don't say it." Chara warned, though her warning fell on deaf ears as Frisk's fingers danced across the cell phone quickly to respond to her adoptive mother.

 **[I'll be sure to grab it. Mind if I eat one of them, though? Just as a snack.**

 **Oh, and I called you cotton candy since you're pretty sweet. Emphasis on _pretty_.**

 **Love you~]**

"*Where did you even learn a word like emphasis?" Chara groaned out, her hands covering her wide smile, muffling her words slightly, but not low enough that her partner couldn't hear them.

"A book." Frisk replied with a cheeky grin, lowering her phone and patting Chara's hip slightly. "Up~ We should get going. We can rest here later." The ghostly girl groaned but nodded her consent, floating away without even bothering to change her position, making it look like she was still leaning back in a chair. Frisk laughed a bit at the girl, standing up and looking down at their phone as it beeped again.

 **[Oh my.**

 **Uhm... That's very kind of you, dear. But perhaps it would be best to leave that chocolate alone... It is...]**

The text trailed off, but Frisk smiled knowingly and slid the phone into her pants pocket, starting to walk towards the exit of the house and into the Ruins. Chara floated behind her on her stomach, her eyebrow arching when Frisk didn't reach for her phone after another beep came from it, followed by one quickly after it.

 **[Sorry, my child, I hit send on accident.**

 **But... It's very old and special to me. I know it may be hard to resist, but I'll buy you one once we're on the surface. I love you too, Charisk]**

 **[Oh, I meant Frisk. Sorry, dear.**

 **Curse these large hands...]**

* * *

 _ **Chapter... END!**_

 _ **Came out a bit faster than anyone was probably expecting, huh? What can I say... When I want to write, I write a lot.**_

 _ **But anyways...**_

 _ **The texting in this chapter from Toriel is mostly from the game, excluding the last few. Didn't copy of them directly, but instead wrote them all down myself. I know that's a bit cheap, and I don't really like using text from the game which is why I don't want to reset, but this was an easy way to get the "Chara"cter building started. It also was a nice way of getting an idea of how Toriel would text.**_

 _ **The main reason I used them was because I couldn't think of a reason not to.**_

 _ **Fun fact: A majority of the stuff that Frisk and Chara have gone through, up until the start of this story of course, are all from my own play through of the game. Although this will come up later, I'll go ahead and say that I died about 15 times to Asgore before finally understanding that there was no choice of Mercy. No matter how much I talked to him and refused to fight.**_

 _ **Needless to say that this Frisk did the same, up until she decided to just give Asgore her soul.**_

 _ **Should give you an idea of how angry Chara is, having been the one to watch that happen the whole time. An actual death number will be given later on. Feel free to guess, though.**_

 _ **Also, I'm the type of player that has sentimental values with games that I've felt anything for. So I haven't opened Undertale**_ **once** ** _since I beat True Pacifist. It's just sitting on my computer and will forever... potentially._**

 _ **But that does make this rather hard to write, because I have to do all this menu nonsense and every time I try to search for the Dimensional Boxes... It's just nothing but Mettaton and then a bunch of nonsense! Bah! Anyways...**_

 _ **Lots of subtle hints in this chapter of things to come. Hopefully it didn't feel too forced! The Sans chat felt a bit... off, to me, but I'm always critical of my own writing. I hope everyone at least enjoyed the light fluff. Although I also dropped a few bombs too, I guess... Meh? Still, there were a couple things I was going to bring up, but then I realized I had already written Frisk to be very honest.**_

 _ **With most things, at least, so I had no reason to put some of the plot devices there. Meh~ They might still appear later...**_

 _ **See you next time!**_


	6. Your Best Friend

_**Here's another chapter! This one has an action scene, if anyone was lookin' for that. Sorry about the last one being shorter, too, I've been going by pages and not words. Will try to fix that! But anyways...**_

 _ **No trivia or annoying notes this time! Right into the stuff we go!**_

"Talking is like this."

" _Thoughts are like this." Or_ ' _This'_

 _Text is just like this._

 **[System Actions] → [Are like this]**

"*Narrator Talk is like this." _"*But like this if it's from the mind state."_

* * *

"*You call for someone... Anyone... to come out."

"But nobody came." Frisk finished for her narrator, getting a slight nod in response while the two stood beside each other near the center of the Ruins, where three rocks once sat on switches. But the third rock, which Chara had once demanded to kill for its attitude, was gone and replaced with a large bowl of monster candy that weighed the whole thing down enough to keep the spike trap from popping up.

And it wasn't just that rock, either. All of the monsters in the Ruins seemed to be gone, which was most likely the reason why Toriel left the door open, just in case any of them wanted to stick around. The thought of the place being completely empty sent a wave of eerie dread through the two, staring out at the nearly empty and silent room.

At least until Chara realized where the candy on the switch had come from.

"*Forget taking one, he took the whole bowl!" Chara spat out in irritation, shaking her fist slightly towards the bowl in question, even though it was the one thing allowing them go back further."*I knew I should have killed that rock! He's the scum of the Earth!"

"He only moved it, Chara." Frisk said with an amused tone, starting to walk past the switches and into the room with many pitfalls. Some of which were still broken from when Frisk had wandered through the second time, despite having known where at least one of them were. "It's not like he took any of them to eat. What would he do with them? He's a rock."

"*He may be a rock, but he definitely doesn't _rock_." Chara grumbled, crossing her arms while she floated over the hole her partner was carefully stepping past. The joke nearly made the girl slip from the laugh that wanted to escape, but she quickly straightened herself, smiling while she turned to the exit, _('Or entrance?')_ , to the room and began to walk out of it.

"He probably went off to New Home with all the other monsters before we fought Asriel." She pointed out, walking down the hallway in front of her with a smile. She pulled her phone out again while Chara rolled her eyes, brushing some hair behind her ear with an annoyed expression.

 **[Item] [Stat] [*Cell] [Spells]**

 **[Cell] → [Call] [Text] [UnderNet Login] [*Box A] [Box B] [Disabled]**

 **[Inventory] [*Crab Apple] [Worn Knife] [Heart Locket] [Mystery Key] [Instant Noodles] [Sea Tea] [Rule Page]**

 **[Box 1] → [Tough Glove] [Faded Ribbon] [Manly Bandanna] [Toy Knife] [Stick] [Torn Notebook] [Old Tutu] [Temmie Flakes] [Dog Residue] [Snowman Piece]**

"*I'd rather he just stayed behind, but I guess one of the Froggits wouldn't have just left him here. They're too nice." Chara muttered to herself, her eyebrow arching when she noticed that her partner was getting distracted. "*What are you doing now?"

"Checking what we have in our box. Just in case we run into any... issues." Frisk answered with a slight nod, exiting the first box and opening up the second.

 **[Box 2] → [Cowboy Hat] [Cloudy Glasses] [Empty Gun] [Ballet Shoes] [Crab Apple] [Crab Apple] [Cinnamon Bunny] [*Bisicle] [Nice Cream]**

 **[Bisicle] → [Moved to Inventory]**

"*Do you even know how to ride one of those?" Chara teased with a smile, getting a grin out of Frisk in response. The bisicle was just a two pronged popsicle ("*So you can eat it twice.") and thus wasn't something you could ride to begin with.

"Nope, you'll have to show me sometime." Chara just rolled her eyes, watching Frisk flip back through the menus of her phone, closing each one.

"*You have way too many Crab Apples." The Princess pointed out, to which Frisk could only shrug at. It was her favorite thing to buy, next to the Cinnamon Bunny. Suddenly, Chara pointed at the phone with her right hand, while her left grabbed at her partner's shoulder. "*Hey wait! You aren't logged into the UnderNet! What if Papyrus shows off again?" Frisk tilted her head a bit, a small smile on her face while she opened up the UnderNet menu just to humor Chara.

 **[Cell] → [Call] [Text] [*UnderNet Login] [Box A] [Box B] [Disabled]**

 **[UnderNet Login] → [*Name] [Password] [Login] [TempAccount] [New Account]**

"*Temp Account?" Chara questioned, her eyebrows narrowing together in confusion. She had been around when Frisk had originally got the phone, but hadn't done much but read over her shoulder and describe what was happening. With Frisk already signed in, thanks to Alphys, she hadn't seen the login screen.

Her partner nodded, her brown hair bobbing a bit while she hopped over another set of crumbling floors, having just left a room with another switch held down by a single rock. "Yep, I never figured out what name to have, so Alphys just put me on the Temp Account thing." She explained with a smile, turning to her right and walking up a trail in a room full of leafs.

"*Never figured out a name, huh? Sounds like you." Frisk stuck her tongue out at the remark, starting to move her marker to the Temp Account button. Chara was quick to interject, though, her hands waving beside Frisk's face while she floated beside her. "*Wait, wait. Let's make you an account so you can actually respond and stuff. I can think of a name for you."

Frisk scrunched her nose up a bit at the thought, an amused smile on her face. "I do love your puns, Chara, but I don't think I want one as a name." Now it was the other girl's turn to scoff dramatically, a look of mock hurt on her face while her arms crossed over her chest.

"*How rude! I can do more than puns, thank you." She replied with an indignant tone, getting a soft snicker from the girl beside her. But it was only a moment later that Chara snapped her fingers, her act forgotten. "*I've got it! It's the perfect name for you... and of course it needs a number too. That makes it cool." Frisk sent her a questioning look, briefly running her hand over the pillar Toriel had hid behind during her "test" in the Ruins. Chara sent her a grin, holding one finger up. "*One, like the number one, FriskyAngel."

It took a moment for the name to sink in, resulting in Frisk's tanned face to slowly begin to glow red, her body coming to a stop. "W.. What? No way! That sounds so embarrassing!" She cried out, waving her arms around a bit in the air.

"*It's too late, I've decided!" Chara quickly stated with a wide smile, staring down at Frisk with determination glowing in her eyes. "*Even if you decline now, I'll just take over your body and change all your social stuff to that name. Even when we get to the surface!" Frisk gasped, her hand going over her mouth in real fear this time.

"Y.. You wouldn't!" The grin sent her way told the Fallen Hero all she needed to know and she let out a slight groan of frustration. "You would..." She sighed, starting to walk again with a pout on her face, her red cheeks puffed up while she started to type in the name, feeling Chara's gaze on the phone in case she tried to change it at the last second. "Hmmph... But you know if you get to choose my name, then I get to choose yours for when we get you a body." Chara snorted a bit, an amused look on her face while she floated along on her stomach, having her head propped up with her hand under her chin.

"*Oh yeah? Can you even think of a name for me to have?" The slightly smaller girl flinched and her cheeks puffed up even more, getting a chuckle out of her partner. "*I knew it."

"I.. I'll think of one!" Frisk snapped back, grumbling as she finished putting in the information. Her body came to a stop again while she watched the information go through before finalizing itself, unaware of the embarrassed look the new account owner was sending it.

 **[UnderNet Login] → [1FriskyAngel] [*************] [Loading...]**

 **[Login complete. Welcome, 1FriskyAngel.]**

 **[You don't have any friends!? Let's search for some now...]**

"O.. Oh no, not yet! I'm not readyyy!" She whined, looking back at Chara for support, but only found a wide and evil smile on her partner's face. Frisk just pouted even more, grumbling as she began to carefully walk into the room with a long platform of spikes surrounded by water. Last time, she had came through it with Toriel, but the puzzle in the room wasn't exactly hard to do or remember, especially when the spikes fell down before she even got a step away.

She looked down at her phone once she reached the end, her face glowing red due to the giggling ghost behind her.

 **[1FriskyAngel – Friend Requests (5)] [*Open Requests?] [Ignore]**

Frisk sighed a bit, opening the request list up while she walked down the hallway ahead of her, her cheeks seeming to be as permanently red as her partner's own. "This is such an embarrassing name.."

"*Oh hush, you're Frisk. You're Frisky. And you're the angel that set the whole Underground free! It's the perfect name!" Chara informed with a laugh, suddenly laying her arms on top of Frisk's head, having them crossed so her chin was resting on top of them both. "*It's the perfect name for the perfect partner."

Frisk's cheeks puffed up again and she let out a childish _huff_ , stomping her foot on the wooden platform she was just crossing. "F... Fine! Then your account name is going to be Two, like the number!,Cute!" She snapped, getting a slight gasp from the girl above her.

"*W... Wait, what? Why?" She spluttered in confusion, her red eyes wide while she gripped at some of Frisk's strands of hair.

 **[Friend Requests] → [*CoolSkeleton95] [ALPHYS] [StrongFish91] [sans] [NAPSTABLOOK22]**

Frisk smiled a bit at the sight of her friends, but smiled even wider at the flush of embarrassment going through the girl floating behind her. She cleared her throat before responding, starting to go through each request and accept them. "Because there's two of us, and you're cute. That's all." She said with a teasing tone, answering Chara's question.

The red-eyed girl just spluttered again, her eyes wide and her hands slapping down onto Frisk's shoulders suddenly, though it was like a feather brushed against them. "*What! That doesn't make _any_ sense! It's also way too short and not me at all! You can do better than thaaat!"

"We'll see." Frisk responded with a smile, though it suddenly fell as she ran her fingers across the large purple walls beside her and looked down to the two sets of stairs leading to the rest of the room. A looming purple arch way stood in the distance and she let out a slight sigh, her worries coming to the full front now that they were nearing the _beginning_ of the Underground.

Chara frowned a bit, feeling Frisk's worries, and she let out a sigh, putting the name issue aside for now. "*You sure he's even here, partner? He had enough power to go wherever he wanted." Frisk nodded a bit, her fists clenching suddenly. She slowly began to walk down the stairs in front of her; Chara following close behind.

"I can't think of anywhere else he'd be... and I don't want to leave him all alone in here." She whispered, putting her back to the arch way she had been moving towards and looking up at the Ruins entrance with a determined look on her face. "We're all leaving this place... Together."

Chara smiled a bit at Frisk's expression and placed her hand on the girl's shoulder, staring up at the Ruins entrance with her. "*The shadow of the Ruins looms above... for the last time."

"*You are filled... with _Determination!"_

 **[Save?] [*Yes] [No]**

* * *

Sans smiled to himself as he waved at the many monsters of Snowdin, while glancing curiously at the new additions, such as several Froggits that were carrying a large rock towards the town's exit. He was certain there had been no Froggits outside the area of New Home, and yet...

 _'Actually, these look smaller, huh? I guess they're from the Ruins.'_ Sans noted to himself, his finger flicking inside the pocket of his coat. The flick caused magic to spark off his body, temporarily charming the rock they were carrying to be much lighter with a bit of blue magic. While it would stop the second they put it down, he could already tell the lightness cheered them up due to the excited ribbit sounds and...

 _'Huh, don't recall one meowing before.'_ The skeleton chuckled a bit, walking past the group and towards his own home. He opened the door and walked in, promptly disappearing on the spot and reappear in his own room while his front door closed itself on its own. Sans grinned to himself, glad he was able to avoid glancing at that sock in his living room and instead focused on opening up the drawer to his large table.

He also smiled from the small yap of the dog in his tornado of trash, trying to desperately claw at the plate of spaghetti spinning with it.

"Better be quiet, little pup. Pap has quite a few _bones_ to pick with you." He intoned with his lazy manner of speaking, not even bothering to look at the yapping dog that paid no mind to his warnings. Sans grinned a bit more at the sight of the key inside his desk and slowly pushed it closed, his form disappearing again and reappearing in a small gray room with a large machine covered in a sheet in the corner.

He gave the machine a slight glance before stepping further inside, opening up each drawer to the large table in the room that had several blue prints spread across the top of it. He glanced at the contents of each one, pausing on the fourth and final one with his grin tilting downwards slightly.

The contents were several pictures of him and his old friends... But at the top of the stack was a picture of Frisk. Frisk and everyone that was currently at New Home, including himself, who was standing on the human's left. The sight of the photo made him sigh a bit and he slowly began to push the drawers closed, certain now that Frisk was at least telling _part_ of the truth.

 _'Just hopin' the reset part was true, at least. But still...'_ He paused in his musings, turning towards the machine in the room and staring at it with blank eyes. _'Kid said she loaded.. a_ lot _, but only twice for selfish reasons. Now what could that mean?'_ He hummed, beginning to turn towards the door to the room and walk towards it, even though he didn't need to use it. _'Was also pretty distracted with that menu. Probably thought I didn't notice, but I can't blame her. Some of the stats probably went crazy with the Battle System being messed with. Never really thought about doing that before.'_

His body vanished again, reappearing in his kitchen and he pulled the fridge open, starting to reach for one of the ketchup bottles he had stockpiled inside. _'Hopefully it all works out, but I'm hopin' Frisk at least stops all the loading.'_ He pulled the cap off the bottle and began to chug it, his teeth offering no resistance to the red liquid going down his magical throat. _'Course I've got no idea why she even...'_

He paused, slowly pulling the bottle down and staring at the little bit of red leaking down the side of the bottle, his conversation with the human dancing in his mind.

 _'Loading works by having me Save at a point where I feel really determined. Like at the start of that fight... with_ Asgore - _I've only loaded twice for selfish reasons.- I got out, you know? I left the Underground by myself. Asgore let me.- I even tried giving him my soul... to see if he could break the barrier with it.- I couldn't do it, though. My body wouldn't go through with it.'_

Pieces slowly formed together in his mind and Sans _saw_ more than _felt_ his expression darken in the reflection of the bottle he was staring at. A slight crack began to form on the side of it, letting the red leak out and slowly drip onto the floor... He glanced at the small puddle of red beginning to form, not caring that the source was dripping off his hands.

 _'Could you please promise me something? Watch over them, and protect them... Will you not?'_

 _'I've loaded... a lot, I can't deny that.'_

The skeleton flinched from the words entering his mind and he let out a heavy sigh, staring at the shattered bottle now resting at his feet. He slowly rubbed his bonely fingers together, watching the red drip from them to join their siblings on the ground.

"This is why I hate making promises."

* * *

The two girls stood beside each other in the first room of the Underground. The very same patch of flowers Frisk had woken up on three separate times... and where Chara now rested, despite her spirit floating in the air feet away from the patch.

But outside that group of flowers was a new one that stood up straight above the rest and had a face, which was staring right at them with wide and confused eyes.

"W... What are you doing here, Frisk? Don't you have anything better to do!?" The flower cried in dismay, two of its petals flapping about like arms. "Just leave me alone!"

"You really did turn back into a flower..." Frisk sadly muttered, not listening to the flower's demands as she walked forward, making the plant shrink back slightly with an irritated look.

"I said I would, didn't I? Why are you even down here?" He spat out, glaring up at the human standing a few inches way from him. His angry and annoyed look fell into one of disbelief as she leaned down, holding her hand out to him with a smile.

"I came to get you, Asriel. We're all going to the surface... Together." She whispered, her voice warm and full of determination. Determination that the flower didn't share as he swatted her hand away with a vine flying from the ground, making her wince and pull her hand back slightly.

"Shut up, you idiot!" He snapped, his eyes brimming with tears. "My name isn't Asriel! I'm Flowey! Flowey the Flower! And I don't deserve anything like that!" Flowey said with a desperate tone, looking up at the sad human above him. "Don't you have anything better to do!?"

Frisk stared sadly, feeling Chara's hand rest on her shoulder. She briefly glanced at the ghostly girl, seeing a pained expression printed on her friend's face as well. Frisk turned her head back towards the flower, shaking her head. "I don't. I'm taking everyone up to the surface... To live in peace. That includes you, too, Asriel." She whispered quietly, holding her hand out again.

Another vine swatted it away, though this time she quickly held her ground despite the red mark beginning to form on the side of her hand. "I'm Flowey! Flowey the Flower!" The plant repeated loudly, glaring up at the hand. "Why do you even want something like me along with you? You know exactly what I've done and what I feel! Which is _nothing_!" Frisk shook her head quickly, holding her hand even further out to the flower.

"That's not true! You're feeling the regret right now, aren't you? You _can_ feel!" He flinched from her words, growling in irritation.

"You just don't get it, do you, idiot? I don't feel _positive_ emotions! I only feel hatred and anger! If I go with you, I'll just go back to my old self and kill all of you!" His face suddenly took a dark turn and he cackled, giving her a jagged smile with his eyes going into slits. "Oh, but maybe that's what you want, huh? You want me to kill everyone, since you're too scared to do it yourself, right!?"

Frisk openly gawked at the idea, her head shaking rapidly and sending her hair flowing back and forth, briefly smacking Chara's arm. "No! I don't want that at all! But..!" She stopped, her eyes glistening with her own tears now. "I don't want you to just... to just be all alone too! We'll find a way to fix you. I promise." She gave him a reassuring smile, or at least the best one she could, but it was only met with another scowl in return.

"Selfish!" The flower spat out, swatting at her hand again with his vine. "You just want your _perfect_ ending, don't you? Well I don't care! I'm not going! Besides..." His anger suddenly evaporated and he glanced behind himself towards the large patch of flowers laying behind him, his expression and voice growing somber. "Someone has to take care of these flowers."

Chara gasped softly behind her partner, but it was ignored by Frisk as she pressed forward, her hand still out stretched. "I'm not doing this for some perfect ending! I just want all my friends to be happy... and that includes you, too, Asriel! Please, come with us to the surface." She pleaded and, for a moment, it looked as if the flower was considering it before he growled, his form beginning to shake rapidly.

"I told you... my name... is _**FLOWEY!**_ " The plant screamed, his form beginning to grow as six hearts representing the human Souls he had stolen before began to rapidly spin around his form. Both girls gasped in alarm and Chara quickly pulled Frisk back by the collar of her sweater, both of them staring at the massive form Flowey was beginning to take, complete with a large TV screen held by thick vines. Larger vines and metal pipes wrapped themselves around the screen, connecting to the ceiling above, with Flowey's large TV head resting above the patch of flowers, letting light drip down onto him from the hole far above them.

The large vertical mouth and eyes began to form while two large arms covered in grass began to spill out of the vines holding up Flowey's form. After a moment, the blackened screen turned on, and Flowey's howling laughter tore through the Ruins, his words coming out much louder and deeper than before from the large grin and red eyes he had showing on screen. " **If you aren't going to listen, then I'll just have to** _ **make**_ **you leave me alone, Frisk!** " He cackled as the Battle System began to form around them, though unlike they had fought the form that Chara dubbed "Omega Flowey", this time there was an actual Battle System in place, complete with the four menus.

(*Omega Flowey towers above you..!")

"Y.. You still had the souls!?" Frisk gasped out, taking a small step back in the vague 'square' her body now resided in, while her soul bounced across the menus in a panic. Omega Flowey cackled in response, the screen showing an arched eyebrow above his left eye.

" **Of course I did, you idiot! You think I'd let power like that slip away so easily? No way! After all...** " His face took a twisted grin, his teeth slightly parted while he stared down at Frisk's soul. " **I couldn't just let you** _ **reset without a cost,**_ **could I? Although...** " His face fell slightly, glancing down at the box surrounding them and then at the menus in front of him. " **Seems this one is a bit different than the last time we fought, huh? Guess these idiotic souls still feel something for you. Bunch of** _ **idiots!**_ " He spat out in irritation, but that was quickly discarded, instead focusing on giving Frisk another wide grin. " **But that's fine. They're still giving me** _ **plenty**_ **of energy to deal with you** _ **, Frisk**_ **.** "

Frisk flinched, a nervous look flashing across her face for a brief moment, before quickly switching to a desperate one. "Why!? Why are you doing this, Asriel!? I just want to help!" Flowey growled in irritation at her words, his form flashing and sending various tiny petals flying across the 'screen' of the Battle System. Frisk gasped at the sudden attack, since it wasn't his turn, and quickly made her heart bounce between the menus to dodge the attack. All but one flew past the marker uselessly and she flinched from the small bit of pain as a result.

 **[HP 19/20 (+5)]**

" **I told you my name is FLOWEY! And I don't want your help! Just leave me alone!** " He screamed, his voice echoing across the Ruins again. Frisk groaned at his stubborn attitude, starting to open her mouth to yell at him again when she felt Chara's hand suddenly slap over her mouth, to which Flowey raised an eyebrow at, only able to see the Fallen Hero's mouth suddenly snap closed.

"*Let me handle this, partner." Chara whispered with a firm voice, her red eyes glowing while she stared up at Flowey's towering form. "*I didn't help at all the last time we fought him like this... And when he was Asriel, all I could do was cry and laugh." Frisk's eyebrow twitched at the 'laugh' part, since Chara _had_ burst into laughter at the sight of the winged goat monster Asriel tried to fight them as. Though it only lasted for a moment, it had been rather surprising.

Chara gave Frisk a grin, removing her hand from the girl's mouth. "*Let's Break the System and then I'll handle the fighting, alright?" Frisk nodded her consent, feeling Chara's ethereal form beginning to slide itself inside her. The two souls pulsed together before finally becoming a stable source of power, resulting in the wind around Frisk's body to start spiraling around her. Flowey watched in surprise as Frisk's eyes opened slightly, revealing the ruby red orbs glowing within.

 **[FIGHT] [*ACT] [ITEM] [MERCY]**

Frisk began to go through the menus with a frown on her face, her concern washing over the mental form of Chara that rested in her mind now. " _Are you sure about this, Chara? I don't know how to even do magic without you controlling it."_ She whispered mentally, fear going through her being at the thought of her friend getting hurt. The fact that it'd be her body taking the hits was a small bonus, but Chara would be the one feeling all the pain... and that wasn't fun.

But the Princess of Monsters just scoffed, smirking a bit as she began to gather up the magic inside of Frisk's body. "*What're you talking about? You're my partner. There's no way you'll mess up. Besides, you've always been a quick learner." The amount of trust Chara had in her made Frisk's face glow, but it quickly fell into a concerned frown, her marker hovering over the Break spell.

 **[ACT] → [*Spell] [Plead] [Call for Help]**

 **[Spell] → [Enhancement] [Fire Spells] [*Break]**

" **What the hell are you** _ **doing**_ **, you idiot!?** " Flowey suddenly shouted, getting the attention of the two girls, white petals beginning to form in front of him. " **Stop wasting my time!** "

"*So impatient." Chara drawled with an amused tone, leaning a bit back in her 'chair.' "*But don't worry so much, Frisk. I trust you... and you should trust me." The brown-haired girl smiled from the words, her expression filling itself with determination.

 **[Cast Break?] [*Yes] [No]**

" _I'll always trust you, partner. So let's do this!"_ She shouted mentally, but a real shout escaped from her throat as the Break spell was cast. The sudden shaking made Flowey forget his annoyance, looking around widely with a confused expression, all while not noticing the shift of Frisk's form while the box around the two began to shatter into pieces, which then evaporated into the air, like glitter tossed in the wind. A faint glow appeared in Frisk's chest, while Flowey's entire form began to glow a faint blue.

" **W.. What the!? What the hell did you do!?** " He cried out, gasping as the new mental menu began to pop into his head. " **What the..? Battle? There's not even a no option! What the hell is..!** " The giant monster paused in his rant, the face on his screen reverting back to his flower face with a shocked look on it, staring down at Frisk, who was slowly putting a gold locket around her neck. " **W... Where did... where did you** _ **get that**_ **!? And why...** " He stopped, unable to say anything as Frisk's one open eye stared at him with a bright red glow to it, all while her face was twisted into a large smile, amplified by the red glow to her cheeks.

" _*You equipped the H. Locket! Right where it belongs!_ " **[+99 DF (+15 DF)]**

With her right eye still closed, she began to reach into an invisible 'bag', pulling out the Dented Pan and waving it around slightly in her right hand. She turned her gaze back up to Flowey's towering form, her lips twitching up even further in amusement at the sight of his shocked expression still on his screen. But her smile seemed to finally jolt him out of his shock and instead made him growl in a rage, his flower picture gaining two red eyes, full of anger.

" _ **How dare you..! I know you're not her, I know that! But what... WHAT ARE YOU!?**_ _"_ He screamed in outrage, four large vines beginning to fly towards Frisk's form, each being at least ten times larger than her body. But the girl just laughed at the sight, her form glowing red as she took a step forward, her head tilting side to side to dodge the thorns sticking out of the vines. None of them had actually been aiming for her body, only near her, and she grinned up at Flowey's terrified expression, her eye glowing with mirth.

"Greetings, Asriel." She began slowly, placing her left hand up and gently touching the locket resting against her chest with her finger tips. "It's me. Your best friend..." Magic flared around her, forming large gray letters in the monster language in front of Flowey's eyes, all with the intent of copying Asriel's previous introduction.

 _ **CHARA DREEMURR**_

 **[Battle] [*Yes]**

 _ **[**_ **Music Selected: The True Name / Your Best Dreem** ** _]_**

" **C... Chara** _ **!?**_ " Flowey gasped, his vines receding into the main body that towered above him, all of them moving around rapidly from the rush of terror the creature was feeling. " **B.. But... How!? Were you playing with me... this whole time? Is there even a Frisk at all!?** " The amount of betrayal in his voice made Chara's grin falter for just a bit, but it quickly shot back up to full power, her single open eye glowing with amusement and her voice full of soft affection, though still notably huskier than Frisk's usual voice.

"Of course Frisk exists, Asriel. I've been borrowing her body here and there. Guiding her. She's quite wonderful. But you said it yourself..." Her smile took a slight bitter turn, unable to keep herself from speaking honestly to her previous best friend, even if he wasn't in his true form. "I wasn't the greatest person... But Frisk is the type of friend you wanted to have... The type of friend we both needed." She waved her hand slowly, unable to look up at the screen that showed Flowey's face. "And now she's reaching out to both of us. To bring us back to the surface. To bring us back to our family... Aren't you excited? Aren't you happy?" She looked up now, her eye slowly letting a tear fall down her cheek.

"You're going to be free."

Flowey could only stare, unable to keep his screen from jittering and forming nothing but static every so often. His face was just full of disbelief and despair, staring at the girl below him, who kept a smile on her face. But even though she was staring at him, her mind was focused on the _other_ girl scowling with her eyes closed, her irritation flowing through their connection.

"* _You know I don't like it when you talk bad about yourself. You and Asriel are wonderful people too!"_ Frisk scolded, waving her mental finger around, while simultaneously sending a wave of determination and magic through her own body. Chara just sent her the mental equivalent of a smirk, followed by a slight shrug, to which her partner scoffed at. _"*Don't give me that whole 'It's what he said, so it's the truth' thing! I know you, Chara. It doesn't matter if you made some mistakes, it doesn't change how wonderful you are."_

The Princess of Monsters just let out a soft chuckle, not noticing that it brought Flowey out of his trance, as she was so focused on the girl glaring at her. "If you say so, partner..." She whispered with a sad smile, wiping away her tears with the sleeve of Frisk's sweater. But her eye snapped open right as she began to pull her arm away and her body shot itself backwards, barely dodging a thick vine that had attempted to impale her with its sharp tip. She could hear Frisk's cry of surprise, but paid it no mind as she quickly hopped to the left to dodge another vine, her eye shooting up and glaring at Flowey's face as he began to cackle loudly.

" **Ahahaha, you idiots! You know you shouldn't take your eyes off me!** " He sneered, sending three vines flying at the girl from above, each bending and whipping at her at slightly different heights, practically making it so a wall was falling towards her. Chara clicked her tongue in annoyance at the sight, but smiled at the feeling of power rushing through her, allowing her to jump forward with the back of her head barely missing a thorn sticking out towards her head. However, she couldn't dodge the ground exploding behind her from the attack, making her gasp as Frisk's tanned body was sent into a forward roll, though she ended it with her knees bent right beside the patch of flowers... and right under Flowey's 'head.'

" **DIE!** " The giant flower shouted, the large vertical mouth suddenly opening up and shooting a large blue beam of energy at them, practically at point blank. Chara gaped at the sight, instinctively raising her arms up to guard, just as Frisk's magic flowed through her entire being.

" _*Green!"_ The Fallen Hero called out and the faint glow in their chest began to radiate a green color, forming a bright green dome in front of their arms. The newly form shield blocked the laser firing down at them, making Chara's knees buckle hard and her shoes dig into the ground. " _*J... Just hang on, Chara! Stay determined!"_ Frisk cried out, her magic flowing into Chara's arms to strengthen the shield.

"S _.. S_... Shit!"Chara swore, her eyes tightly closed while she waited for the attack to end. But before it did, the shield began to crack and buckle in on itself, suddenly exploding and sending the human flying backwards with a gasp.

Flowey laughed at the sight, letting his attack end while he watched Chara's form skid across the ground on her back, coming to a quick stop due to her Dented Pan being dug into the dirt on her right hand. She glared up at him with her one open eye, pushing herself up to her feet slowly.

 **[HP: 19/20 (15/25)]**

" **Don't you see, you idiots? In this world... No matter what, it's KILL or BE KILLED!** " He laughed loudly again, but unlike the previous times the flower made such a claim, his eyes were avoiding the girl, staring up at the ceiling instead. " **I don't know what you did to the Battle System, but I don't care! I'm going to use this advantage to kill you both!** " He gave them a jagged smile, though he still refused to look at them. **"But don't worry, I won't take your souls. I'll just make you reset over, over, and _over_ again until you finally leave me alone!** " He finally looked down at the girl, his wide jagged smile falling into an annoyed look at the sight of her confident grin while she held her pan at her side. " **Stop looking at me like that!** "

Chara chuckled a bit, watching large six-shot pistols form in the air under Flowey's form. Each one shot a large white bullet, being about the size of Frisk, with about half a second or so between each shot. Chara's grin increased in size at the sight, sending a mental command to increase her strength which Frisk hastily obliged to, making their whole form glow with a red wave of energy.

The first bullet was batted to the side by the pan, denting it even further but sending the bullet flying away to their left. The second was met with Chara's foot as she kicked it upwards, sending it flying into the funnel-like hole in the ceiling, skidding across the rocks the whole way. The third was blocked by Chara's left arm holding up a green shield which bent inwards slightly, then sent the bullet flying backwards straight into the next bullet.

The fifth and sixth bullets reached Chara at the same time, but Frisk clapped her hands together, then raised them high into the air. " _*Blue!"_ She shouted mentally, making their mixed soul glow a bright blue color now and then shoot upwards into the air, flying right above the bullets that dissipated behind them before they could reach the archway that led to the next room.

"Smart, partner." Chara remarked as she began to fall back down towards the ground. She was about to say something else when a vine began to swing at her out of the corner of her eye and she hastily held the pan up in the way. She gasped as she felt the thick plant matter slap the pan out of her hand, a thorn sliding across the back of her wrist, sending her spiraling down to the ground with the blue glow on her Soul disappearing.

 **[Unequipped Dented Pan]**

 **[HP: 19/20 (10/25)]**

" _*Chara!"_ Frisk gasped in alarm, feeling the pain rushing through their body. Surprisingly, their Soul didn't seem too affected by the attack, meaning it was entirely physical. But that didn't really make the pain any better and it showed as Chara began to stand up a lot slower than before, panting and glancing at her wounded arm with a pained expression. " _*Eat something, quick! It should work the same way, right!?"_ Her partner pleaded, getting a slight nod in return.

"Yeah, probably. But it doesn't look like this idiot is going to listen to reason. We're doing this my way." Chara stated, getting a hesitant nod from her partner. The human watched Flowey cautiously, though he seemed content in basking in the wound he gave her... Or just gawking, since blood wasn't part of the previous Battle System. Slowly, she pulled out a Crab Apple from the invisible item box they kept. She bit into it, briefly surprised by how juicy and sweet it was, but quickly swallowed it down as she saw magic beginning to form under Flowey's massive body. She also pulled the Worn Knife out, knowing there was no way she was going to be able to get a chance to pick up the pan safely.

" _*You ate a Crab Apple! You can_ sea _the juice coat your fingers..."_ **[+18 HP: 20/20 (25/25)]**

" _*You equipped the W. Dagger. Perfect for cutting plants and vines."_ **[+99 ATK (+15 ATK)]**

Chara smiled a bit at Frisk's narrations, turning her body to the side to dodge one of the large balls of fire being tossed at her by the large frying pans forming under Flowey, all while feeling the wound on her wrist close itself. "Playing with fire now, Asriel? Didn't mother tell you not to burn the pans?" Chara teased, getting a growl of annoyance from the large monster, who sent two more large flames flying towards her.

" **My name isn't Asriel! Stop calling me that,** _ **Frisk**_ **! Just sit there and** _ **burn**_ **!** " Chara rolled her eye a bit, hopping to her left to dodge the first fireball. The second one seemed to home in on her and she hastily sliced it in half with the dagger, a large gust of wind accompanying the attack from the force behind it alone. However, the attack only barely disrupted the fireball, making her gasp as it suddenly began to close in on her in an attempt to swallow her in flames.

"F... Frisk! Fireball, both hands, now!" Chara cried out, sticking both palms out towards the flames attempting to close around her on either side. Her pinky held tightly down on the Dagger's handle and she felt magic beginning to rapidly form on her palms, quickly expanding into an orb that exploded outwards the second Flowey's flames began to touch them.

The explosion of magic flame made all the sources suddenly eat each others power away, resulting in Chara standing there with her arms slowly lowering to her side, while large scorch marks covered the ground at her sides. She chuckled a bit, getting a firmer grip on her dagger and smirking up at Flowey's face, her free hand holding onto her hip. "Out of the frying pan and into the fire, huh?" She lightly joked, watching the frying pans that Flowey had formed begin to disappear.

" _*I never thought we'd be literally fighting fire with fire."_ Frisk quipped, grinning wide despite the wave of exhaustion the two felt from using so much magic power already. Chara chuckled a bit, leaning down a bit, watching large shoes and stars start to form around the 'arena.' The stars, unlike the first time they fought Flowey, simply put themselves on the walls of the arena, blocking out all means of escape... Not that they planned to in the first place.

Chara still clicked her tongue at the sight, watching a large ballet shoe form ahead and begin to rapidly fire towards them, the very top of it brushing against Flowey's main body. "We've been on the defensive too long, Frisk. Let's take the fight to him." The Princess didn't even wait for her partner's consent, already starting to run towards the attack flying right at her. But before it could strike her, she suddenly shot into the air, landing neatly on top of the curved surface on the 'front' of the shoe. She sent a cheeky grin towards Flowey's face, which was rapidly getting 'closer' as the shoe moved back towards his body.

Flowey gaped at the sight, watching Chara jump off the shoe towards the vertical mouth and TV. She gave him a wide smile as she held her arm up, intent on hitting him with the knife clasped tightly in her hands. "I'm taking you to the surface, Asriel!" She called out, hoping it would at least make him hesitate long enough for her to strike. But it seemed to have the opposite effect as he growled in irritation, whipping a thick vine at her midsection from behind his TV.

The attack made her eyes widen in alarm but she quickly swiped downwards with her knife, creating another gust of wind that made her body briefly stop in mid air. But the attack still struck the vine true, resulting in a large portion of it being sliced clean off, falling uselessly to the ground. A second vine began to fly at her, trying to pick up where the last one left off, and a third quickly joined it. Both were quickly hacked apart and Chara pushed her empty hand backwards, creating an orb of flame that exploded outwards slightly, sending her flying towards her target once again.

" **Where the hell did you learn all this magic!?** " Flowey yelled to the approaching girl, sending two more vines whipping at her front while another attempted to impale her from behind, curving upwards from below her feet.

"Our Mom!" Chara answered with a laugh, making Flowey scowl as the girl sliced through the two vines flying at her face and then suddenly spun in the air, her body turning just enough to dodge the vine that tried to impale her back, as if she saw it coming. Her body got itself caught on one of the many thorns covering its green body, but the sharp tip was far from touching her and the pressure on her side barely did anything.

 **[HP: 20/20 (24/25)]**

The giant plant growled in annoyance, but suddenly sent her a smirking face as the tip of the vine began to coil itself backwards, making the girl's eyes widen in alarm at the tip rolling towards her across the body. She quickly held her hand up above her head, sending a wave of magic and flame shooting from it that sent her flying downwards off the plant, but now she was heading straight for the very top of Flowey's vertical mouth.

The Soul Powered plant cackled at the sight, tilting its body upwards with the mouth opening wide, starting to make a glowing blue orb of energy. " **What a shame! Looks like I win this one!** " He boldly stated just as the orb exploded into a large beam of pure magical energy, shooting right up towards Chara's falling form, which was once again taken by surprise, leaving the girl openly gaping.

But this time Frisk was fully prepared for the attack and already had her hands at her sides, her fingers making small circles with her index and thumbs while she focused her magical power, recalling the various fights she had in the past. Chara felt a sudden purple glow surrounding her body, tugging herself upwards. She looked up out of instinct, grinning as she saw the large purple lines forming on the ceiling and she quickly held her hand out towards the one in front of her, right above Omega Flowey's head, and felt her whole being pulled towards the line.

" _*Purple!"_ Frisk shouted in their mind, smiling proudly that the soul color worked as she thought it would. She watched as Chara's form seemingly teleported in place to the next 'line', making the girl let out a surprised gasp at the sudden movement, having been expected to just fly there, but Chara's actual height had remained unchanged from the move. Despite this, she was still falling quickly towards Flowey's surprised face; the beam attack he had used quickly dying out after striking the ceiling.

" **W.. What the hell?! Stop changing the color of your Soul! That's against the rules!** " He childishly complained, creating two large boxing gloves in the air just as Chara's feet landed on the very top of his head. The fists flew towards her like rockets, attempting to punch her off. The combined attack from both fists did hit the girl's raised arms, but she stayed firmly in place, unable to move backwards since she was 'stuck' on the 'line' floating high above her on the ceiling. The sight made Omega Flowey growl in irritation, his giant fists splitting into two smaller ones each in front of the girl and each one starting to rapidly punch towards her body.

The rapid attacks made her eyes widen and her arms quickly came up in a defensive manner, attempting to shield herself from the damage. Frisk gasped at the sight, clapping her hands together to focus her magic once more. " _*Green!"_ She called out, forming a barrier around Chara's arms once more, resulting in the lines above and to the side to disappear and allow Chara to move back and forth freely once more.

But this resulted in the attacks against the dome to send Chara's feet skidding down the curved screen that showed Flowey's face, all while keeping her arms up to guard. She quickly realized where she was, however, and lowered her arms with the green glow of her Soul disappearing and she hastily raised her dagger up, stabbing down towards Flowey's face.

Her eagerness caused her to miss the fist flying at her, making her gasp as it struck her straight in the chest, sending her flying back with the knife falling from her hand and to the ground below. Her eye widened in alarm, glancing at the dagger falling into the flower bed.

 **[HP: 20/20 (13/25)]**

 **[Unequipped Worn Dagger]**

"Uh oh..." She muttered, watching Flowey follow her gaze for a brief moment, before quickly looking back up at her with a jagged smile.

" _ **Now**_ **it's my win! Die!** " Vines rapidly began to pour of his body, many of them flying above him in an arc and then rapidly twisting while they aimed their tips at Chara's chest. She gulped in alarm, starting to raise her arms up again, when she heard Frisk's voice shout from her soul.

" _*I'll summon the Knife back! Just wait!"_ The girl declared, making Chara blink in confusion.

"Summon the..?" She muttered to herself, her arms spreading apart. Realization of what Frisk meant dawned on her just as the vines began to spin all together, forming a massive drill of death above the girl and rapidly approaching her. But despite the threat of imminent death, Chara kept all her focus on her partner's misunderstanding. "Wait, Frisk! That's not what summon means!" She cried out in warning, only to gasp at the amount of magic beginning to form around her right hand.

Out of pure instinct, the girl swung her arm just as a dark red blade began to form in her hand, sending a massive, and destructive, force up towards the huge set of vines above her. The energy took a blade-like appearance itself, but instead of cutting, the attack _evaporated_ the vines before dispersing in the air, making all three children openly gape at the sight with the TV screen having a picture of Flowey's true face with a gaping mouth.

But Flowey, who had actually taken the damage, was the first to recover and let out an anguished cry, forming his own large knife that one of his hand-like collection of vines grabbed the handle of. " **Why!? WHY WON'T YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!** _" He howled, using the handle to swing it down towards Chara's still falling form._

Chara quickly held up the blade in her own hand, her eye wide as the blade began to finally take full form just as Flowey's knife struck against it. The attack sent Chara to the ground faster, but the only damage she took was from the blow to the back, though she barely paid it any mind as she stared at the dagger forming in her hand.

It had a curved bright red blade that glowed with power, while the handle was straight rectangle and a soft white color, with a red heart printed on both sides. One of which was at the perfect position for her thumb to touch the very bottom tip of the heart while holding it normally. The whole thing had a transparent look to it, much like her usual form when she wasn't fused with Frisk's soul, and allowed her to see right through it to the knife it was blocking, like red-tinted glass.

 **[HP: 20/20 (10/25)]**

 **[Equipped: Devil's Horn +0 ATK (+25 ATK, +5 DF, +20 MP)]**

 _("*It pulses with the energy of the Soul... Perfect for cutting away one's sin.")_

 **[Unlocked Weapon Skill: Soul Burst (70; Devil's Horn Only)]**

"Whoa..." Chara whispered in awe, unable to take her eye off the glowing blade, or the information popping into her brain and Frisk's by proxy. Her thumb gently rubbed against the heart printed on the handle and, for a moment, she completely forgot the situation while she marveled at the ethereal knife in her hands.

Up until Flowey's own knife slammed down onto her again, making her gasp as she felt the pressure of the ground pushing against her back.

 **[HP: 20/20 (8/25)]**

" _*Move, Chara! Think about the fancy knife later! You need to heal!"_ Frisk cried in alarm, watching Chara bend her tanned body backwards and back flip away from another strike, letting the very end of the knife dangerously slide between her legs for a moment.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." She grumbled, reaching quickly into the pocket space and pulling out a pack of noodles Frisk had taken from Alphy's lab a long time ago, just as she landed neatly on her feet.

" _*You open the bag of I. Noodles! And... Hey, what're you doing!?"_ Frisk gasped out, only able to watch as Chara bit into the plastic wrapping and tore it off with her teeth, spitting the remains to the side. She then bit right into the package of dry noodles, gulping down the magic filled food with a glint to her eyes, feeling Frisk's horror.

"They're better dry." She muttered, an amused smirk coming to her face as she took another bite and swallowed, tossing the rest aside along with the flavor packet they came with.

 **[+90 HP: 20/20 (30/25)]**

" _*B... But that goes against everything! We had all the stuff to cook that right!"_ The brown-haired girl whined, getting a smirk from her partner who shrugged her shoulders, straightening up to look at their adversary once again.

"Maybe, but this isn't really the time to be a wet noodle, Frisk." She joked, for once making her partner groan. Chara chuckled a bit, watching Flowey raise his knife up once again. "It even over healed us, so no complaining." Frisk just groaned a bit more before going quiet, focusing on enhancing Chara's speed again to dodge the incoming attack.

Surprisingly, though, Chara instead opted to block the attack with her glowing knife, this time putting some force into it that made Flowey's whole form bounce back, a surprised expression appearing on his screen. Chara grinned confidently, using the speed to shoot forward past Flowey's knife while he was raising it in the air and then she jumped over the flower bed right as she reached it, skidding to a stop on the side of her feet and smirking at the large mass of vines and metal pipes flowing around above her.

" **WHAT!? GET BACK OVER HERE, CHARA! I'm** _ **not**_ **done with you yet!"** Flowery hollered indignantly, thrashing about and sending vines whipping down towards her in a blind rage, unable to turn his body around. She grinned at the sight, her eye sparkling with amusement. Only one got even close to hitting her out of the four he sent her way, and it was nimbly dodged with a small tilt of her body. " **Grrr..! Chara! This isn't funny! JUST LET ME WIN AND LEAVE ME ALONE!** "

The girl lightly picked at her ear from the increase in volume at the end, a frown coming to her face. She glanced briefly at the glowing knife in her hand and thought about just tossing it into the flower's back, but..

" _*But that won't solve anything. We have to get him to come with us willingly."_ Frisk muttered, voicing Chara's own thoughts to herself. The auburn-haired girl sighed, nodding with Frisk's brown-haired head, and looked up at Flowey's flailing form with a frown.

"Asriel!" She shouted, making him pause briefly, though she could see some vines lining up to target where her voice came from out of the corner of her vision. "Listen, Asriel! We can find a way to get your emotions back! You know how stubborn Frisk and I are! We won't rest a day without trying to look for a way! Just come with us already, you big crybaby!" Frisk palmed her face a bit at the last remark, knowing that insulting him wouldn't get anywhere, but Chara kept her own feelings determined to get through Flowey's shell to the Prince cowering within him... and she knew that insulting him in a familiar way was the best way to get him to come out.

Unsurprisingly, though, Flowey just let out another howl of rage. " **AGH! Why don't you GET IT!? I** _ **can't**_ **leave like this! I'll just be a danger and annoyance to everyone! You already know that! You just want to make fun of me!** " He whined, sending another wave of vines towards where he heard Chara's voice.

Chara quickly hopped back in alarm from the five vines attempting to impale her and quickly sliced at their bodies, using two long strikes for both since they came from her left and right. She failed to notice the other vine sneaking around in the shadows of the room, however, and gasped as she felt it stab into her left shoulder, sending blood spraying across the ground.

 **[HP: 17/20 (10/25)]**

 **[Status Gained: Rapid Bleeding]**

"A.. Agh!" She cried out in pain, both eyes filling with tears while blood spilled out of her wound. Hastily, she sliced behind her shoulder at the vine, separating the end from the body which fell out on its own behind her. It wiggled and thrashed like a beheaded snake, sending red liquid flying everywhere on the ground and the back of Chara's leg. She could hear Flowey's laughter while she held her shoulder, staring in dismay at the massive hole dripping blood quickly onto the ground.

" **AHAHAA! GOT YOU! Now get OUT before I kill you for good!** " The massive creature laughed, though his tone was anything but pleased despite his words. Chara just ignored him for a moment, focused instead on the whimpering pain she heard from inside her mind.

"F... Frisk, you alright..?" She groaned out, the red in her eye flickering for a moment, worry and pain etched on her face. A whimper followed by a cough was her only answer and she chuckled a bit, starting to reach into her item pocket once again, pulling out the bicicle Frisk had moved to their inventory earlier with the hand holding her knife. "Right... I'll..."

" **Oh, no you don't! No more of those stupid healing items!** " Flowey suddenly interrupted, tossing three new vines, making Chara gasp in alarm and jump away, swinging weakly at the one vine that got close, causing her bicile fly out of her hand to the ground. She still split the vine apart, but the blood loss and quick movement made her head swim, making her stumble to the side with the glow to her eye flickering faster, while the bicile vanished from her vision.

 **[HP: 15/20 (7/25)]**

She stumbled back from the feeling of losing her HP, her hand and back slapping against the wall while her left hand just dangled limply at her side, barely staying apart of her body with the hole above it. Desperate for any form of relief, the girl quickly began to talk, hoping to distract the beast wanting to kill her. "Asriel... Please..." She groaned out, making him pause once again at the gentle, though pained, tone. "I just want us... to be together again. As a family... again. We won't... We won't leave you. We won't make fun of you... You won't..." She coughed, her eye flickering and her body beginning to slowly slide down the wall, unable to support herself with her legs any longer. Blood from her wound began to stain itself, leaving a long red trail behind her.

"You won't... be an annoyance... or a danger. You're better than that, now..." The world began to darken around her and she could already tell that Frisk had passed out from the pain. She could feel the magic enhancing her body leaving her, though it had been on its last legs anyways.

 **[HP: 10/20 (3/25)]**

Chara coughed hard, her mind swimming in darkness, barely able to see the vines looming above. "As... Asriel..." She whispered, a small smile starting to spread across her face, while tears began to fall from her one opened eye. "Brother... I'm... so sorry... For everything. I'm so sorry that... I'm..." Her words trailed off and her eye slowly began to dim... the red light fading entirely, followed by the blade in her hand dispersing into a red and white mist. Tears dripped down into the blood pooling under her...

… and she went still.

 **[HP: 4/20 (0/25)]**

 **[Battle End]**

" **You really are...** two... big idiots."

* * *

 _ **Chapter... END!**_

 _ **Rather intense, I hope, and made up for the chatty chapter last time! Hopefully I made the battle clear as day for everyone to follow. I tried my best to use elements from the game as well to make them flow better, but with the battle being in 3D now and with real-time action... They're a bit different, too!**_

 _ **Now for a brief thing, let's go over the different attacks Frisk/Chara used. Mostly the 'Soul Color Shift' ones. That way everyone is clear on what they do.**_

 _ **Blue: Frisk can move her own body forward, backward, up, down, left, or right depending on how long she holds it. Similar to other Blue fights, there is a slight limit to how long she can hold it, unless she's**_ **very** ** _determined to keep it up high. Sort of like the end of the Papyrus fight, although I've never actually seen it, only heard of it. However, Frisk can't move diagonally with it._**

 _ **Green: Creates a barrier wherever the body is facing, typically in a 'dome' or 'shield' shape. The major difference between this and the spear Undyne gives you is that it buckles under pressure and either a) reflects the attack or b) implodes and forces the body to escape. This of course depends on the attack hitting it. It can withstand a good amount of damage, but not that much. It also makes it hard to move, but only while it's actually summoned.**_

 _ **Purple: Creates a series of lines on the sides, top, and bottom of the "box" the Battle System takes place in. Because the original was in 2D, we only got to go up and down with it. But in this 3D world, you instantly teleport to the next line or height just by focusing on it. The latter wasn't explored in this fight, since it was the first time they used it, but it may come into play later. The weakness of this? Wide ranged attacks, or really fast homing ones. Even if they can change their height now, they still can only move one line at a time!**_

 _ **Red: Free movement and their default. Doesn't actually do much besides that... Or does it?**_

 _ **Gray: Used to create images or text only. Completely harmless, like smoke in the wind. Interestingly enough, only ghosts can use this type. Weird, right? (That's canon, by the by. Blooky and Metta are the only ones that use it.)**_

 _ **Yellow: Unused this fight, but I'll say it anyways. Similar to red in terms of maneuverability but all attacks come out in a range with reduced power. Can only fire forward, so backward attacks or blocking is forbidden. Unlike the 2D version, though, you can turn around, but you can't fire behind yourself, so you have to face the attack / opponent.**_

 _ **...and that's it... Or is it?**_

 _ **But that's all I'm explaining! The rest is up there for you to see! Hope you enjoyed and see you later!**_


	7. Your Worst Nightmare

**So some people might find this first half to be a bit hamfisted, but there's a reason for that and it isn't just to push constant character development that's supposed to happen subtly, not suddenly. But, again, there's a reason to my madness and I'm sure at least one person out there will be able to guess why... or at least I hope so!**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

"Talking is like this."

" _Thoughts are like this." Or_ ' _This'_

 _Text is just like this._

 **[System Actions] → [Are like this]**

"*Narrator Talk is like this." _"*But like this if it's from the mind state."_

* * *

Sans hummed a light tune while he walked, his movement slow and steady as always. It was times like this he really enjoyed his position that allowed him to just go at a steady pace. Sure, he could just teleport to where he needed to go, but why bother? He was in no rush and, for once, no one was around to berate him for being slow. It was nice.

… Or it would be, if not for the sense of dread wanting to overtake his mind.

That wasn't really _unusual_ for the skeleton monster, of course. While he tended to keep himself in a light mood and throw jokes around, there was always that feeling of fear deep in his gut, or lack there of. The fear that everything he knew and loved would just... one day... _stop_. All because of people messing with time. With their lives. Like they were toys. Like they didn't matter. And yet today...

Today he found himself worrying about the potential _source_ of all those problems. Of all his insecurities, of all his worries... He found himself worrying more about _her_ than anything else. Worried about what such power was doing to her. Worrying about how much he had taken the power for granted, despite it not being his own... and how little he cared about breaking another promise.

 _'Ah, maybe I'm worrying too much.'_ He thought to himself, shaking his head dismissively. _'Maybe the kid just meant something was forcing her to load for awhile and she doesn't wanna tell me. Like that flower, or something. Seemed like it was her friend or something.'_ He chuckled a bit, though inwardly he felt a brief confusion over the idea of _that_ flower being _anyone's_ friend.

An image of his brother, Papyrus, instantly came to mind and he couldn't help but grin weakly. While he didn't want his brother to hang around someone like that, and definitely not befriend them, he couldn't deny that Papyrus would probably be the first one to step up to try.

 _'Meh, maybe Frisk knows something I don't anyways. Can't even recall what the hell happened after we got caught.'_ He thought to himself again, his eyes closing while he walked. _'I mean, it was just one moment Frisk was looking up at us with a smile at everyone's support and then boom, we're all suddenly standing around and the barrier is broken. Can't explain that.'_ He rubbed the back of his head a bit, glancing up at the purple arch way he was walking under before focusing back on the path ahead.

 _'Still, glad it seems like everything is gonna work out. Frisk probably won't reset unless we all explode or something and loading won't fix it. Maybe I can figure out some way of setting her reset point to before we go to the surface? Meh, probably won't work.'_ He shrugged to himself, thinking about all the humans up on the surface that would have just as much, if not more, determination than the girl that had saved them all.

… A girl, _a child,_ that may have potentially _died_ for them. Many, _many_ times...

 _'Whoa now. Don't go jumping to conclusions. Maybe the kid is just the type that falls a lot, or something. Yeah, that's probably...'_ His thoughts trailed off when he walked past another arch way, his eyes widening in their sockets at the sight that greeted him. His ever present grin became more pronounced as his teeth gritted together, holding back a yell of panic...

Because the sight that greeted him was Frisk's bleeding from slouched against the far off wall, her eyes glazed over and a little yellow flower staring up at her, staring right at the gaping hole in her shoulder... He didn't need his magic to tell him what Frisk's HP was at. He didn't even need the _System_ for that. He could tell right away that Frisk, a little human girl,...

… was dead.

He felt his magic beginning to whip around him, forcing his left eye to glow a dark blue, while the other simply disappeared into its socket. His finger bones all clenched into a tight fist while he started to step forward; bones beginning to spawn out of the ground from his magic, sliding through the dirt like water. He raised his left hand up, about to pull the little _weed_ out of the ground from afar...

…So the bottle shattered in his hands, filling him with an awful sense of deja vu.

* * *

Chara gasped for air, her body shooting up and her eyes were wide in alarm. She looked around quickly, trying to gather her surroundings, and slowly began to relax at the sight of the Ruin's entrance towering over her. She let out a slight sigh, rubbing the side of her face a bit while she sat on the ground. "Ah, we loaded... I guess I'd better..." She paused, pulling her hand away and staring at the tanned skin, her eyebrow arching for a moment, before the details of the Load began to play out in her mind.

"Right... I was the one in control." She muttered to herself, a slightly amused smile on her face. "Might be the first time I'm the one waking up in the body." She began to push herself up, stretching and groaning from the feeling of her muscles popping into place. She relished the feeling with a grin on her face, but then she sighed, looking over towards the doorway that led to Flowey.

She shook her head, knowing another fight was about to brew, and began to pull out the locket again, starting to slip it around her neck. She paused, waiting for a narration from her partner, only to realize that she hadn't heard a single noise from the girl. The Princess began to panic a bit, hoping that her being in control during the Load didn't ruin something and quickly called out in her mind, her hands gripping at the bottom of her sweater.

" _Frisk! Are you in there? Talk to me!"_ She yelled mentally, though at the same time she realized that she had _both_ eyes open in Frisk's body. Something that, so far, never happened before, since she always found it hard to open her left eye while she was in control. This made her panic even more; forcing magic to begin to spiral around her feet, pushing around the dirt and leafs. " _Partner! Wake up! This is no time to be joking around!"_ She cried out, stomping her foot down on the ground. _"FRISK!"_

But nobody came.

* * *

Frisk felt herself yawn more than heard it, her eyes barely opening as they always did. She slowly sat up from her laying down position, looking around the void she found herself in with a frown. _'Mm..? Where am I?'_ She thought to herself, her memories not quite catching up with her just yet, but she could already tell that she wasn't where she was meant to be. She stood up, slightly patting down her shorts for a moment, and began to walk around.

She started to put pieces together in her mind while she walked, looking around for anything other than the black void she found herself in. _'Let's see... We were fighting... Flowey. We got behind him. Chara was really cool...'_ She smiled a bit, remembering the flips and attacks Chara had done during the fight. Sure, she had helped with some, but she was only good at defending and avoiding attacks. She could tell Chara was always thinking two steps ahead in the fight, trying to find the perfect chance to counter attack, and the way she handled herself was always so confident.

A confidence Frisk shared, feeling like she could do anything with Chara by her side.

 _'Except... You died.'_ A stray thought pointed out, making Frisk's lips twitch downwards slightly.

 _'I always die. That's kind of my thing.'_ She retorted with a slight edge of morbid humor, not caring that she was talking to herself. She began mentally counting on her fingers despite her body having some to count on. _'Mom, Undyne, Muffet, Mettaton, Asgore... and lots of others. They've all killed me at least once. It's not a big deal.'_

 _'Chara seems to think so.'_ The voice stated, pointing out another flaw in Frisk's own thought process. _'She always gets so sad and upset whenever you fail, even though she knows you'll come back. But hey, feel free to keep doing it. It's not like it makes everyone who loves you sad.'_

An image of Toriel's horrified face when her soul began to shatter filled her mind, making Frisk's own face twist into a grimace. She shook her head slightly, her foot steps on the empty floor echoing in her ears. _'They don't know, so it's fine. Everyone was doing what they believed in. I can't fault them for that.'_ She thought with a slightly desperate tone, trying to push away the pained feeling starting to bloom in her chest.

 _'Chara knows... Flowey... Asriel knows. Sans might know. Do you not think they care? Do_ you _not care?'_

The words made her freeze, her only movement being her teeth biting down on her lower lip. She felt no pain from the action, yet she could feel the pressure increasing, her mind whirling with doubt.

 _'Of course I care. I care about all my friends... I don't want to see them sad.'_ She whispered in her mind... and for a moment, she could have sworn she heard a scoff in the back of her mind.

 _'That isn't what I asked. I asked if you cared.'_ Frisk frowned at the question, biting down a bit harder on her lip.

 _'Of course I...'_

 _'About dying.'_ The voice interjected, making the girl flinch and pierce the skin with her teeth, making blood slowly drip down her chin. The voice continued, as if not noticing or caring. _'About letting them see you die. Will you keep dying just for your cause? Just to do what you think is right? What about yourself? When will you start caring about your own well being?'_

Frisk could only gulp, her eyes wide open for once, revealing the candy red orbs that swirled with a chocolate brown light. _'I... That's...'_ She spluttered in her mind, unable to think of what to say.

 _'When will it stop?'_ The voice questioned, pressuring the Fallen Hero even more. _'When will you be satisfied? Will you sacrifice yourself, your entire being, if it meant saving someone else? You don't need to answer that.'_ The last part was added quickly, just when Frisk opened her mouth to respond, making the girl promptly close it, though the answer was clear as day in her heart. _'Of course you would.'_ The feeling of a smug smirk being sent her way made the girl twitch in anger, her fists clenching at her sides.

 _'I just want everyone to be happy. Is that wrong of me?'_ She challenged, her eyes closing tightly.

 _'Of course not.'_ The voice answered, the smugness gone and replaced with a gentle and caring tone. _'But you need to care about your own happiness, too. You being alive... You being there... That's what makes them happy the most right now.'_ The girl sucked in a breath, despite there being no air, and shuddered, unable to take the feelings going through her system. A soft laugh echoed in her mind. _'You want to save them all, even at the cost of yourself. But do you know what that reality looks like?'_

 _'I...'_ Frisk shuddered again, her eyes blinking away tears as she saw the ground under her begin to be filled with color, making her eyes widen at the sight of a large green field beginning to form under her feet. She looked around in confusion, her eyes wide as she saw various figures beginning to form in front of her. A camera began to form in front of them, just as their bodies began to form, along with the trees and mountain in the background. Just like when they took a picture after getting to the surface the first time.

Sans, Papyrus, Toriel, Muffet, Asgore, Alphys, Undyne, Mettaton, Napstablook, and even Chara was standing with Asriel holding her hand; all of them standing together in a large group in front of the camera. Frisk felt a joyful smile coming to her face at the sight, glad that all her friends were finally together...

But her joy sunk into her chest when her friend's faces began to come to light and she took a small step back, her smile falling. Even though all her friends were together... Even though they all had each other and were finally on the surface; they could _finally_ live in peace...

Nobody was happy about this.

Only Sans and Papyrus had smiles on their faces and both looked very forced with their eyes tilted downwards. The taller skeleton also had tears brimming under his eye sockets, which Frisk didn't even question, and Sans' usual grin didn't seem to be even close to his own eyes, which were currently missing from their sockets entirely.

The rest were in similar states with Toriel openly frowning and having tears go down her cheeks, her shoulders shaking despite no one else seeming to move at all. Asgore was looking at her rather than the camera, his own frown covering his face. Alphys was being held by Undyne, the smaller girl having her face buried in her girlfriend's chest, while the Royal Warrior just stared at the camera with a blank expression. Muffet, Mettaton, and Napstablook were just standing to the side together, all of them wearing dark formal attire as if they were attending some event, yet none of them seemed excited at all.

But it was Chara that got Frisk's full attention, unable to take her eyes of the sight of the auburn-haired girl's depressed face. Tears were openly going down her cheeks and blood was going down her chin from where she was biting her lip, trying to not sob. Asriel was standing beside her in his true form, holding her hand tightly with his own depressed expression and his own tears dripping down his face. The sight of all of them so openly sad and crying made Frisk herself want to cry, her body taking another step back from the scene.

"W.. What... What is..?" She whispered to herself, unable to voice her opinion on the scene.

 _'That's the future.'_ The voice whispered softly with a gentle, yet firm, tone. _'That's what you're willing to do...'_

"N... No! It's not!" Frisk quickly denied, waving her arm in front of herself, as if trying to swipe away the scene from her sight. "I don't want this!"

 _'Then fix it.'_

Frisk flinched, her arm falling to her side. "F... Fix it..? But I don't..." She gasped, feeling something shove her forward, further into the scene. She stumbled in front of the camera and looked up at the group, about to instinctively apologize for getting in the way, but she froze when she saw everyone's faces again.

They were all smiling. Their tears forgotten, or simply never there, and she could feel the joy they radiated from there, brighter than the sun hovering over them. A hand gripped her own before she could even comment, pulling her into the group and making her gasp in alarm, stumbling a bit. She looked up at the hand that grabbed her, her eyes widening at the sight of the two red eyes staring at her with affection. "C... Ch...?"

"What's wrong, partner?" The girl questioned, a wide and amused smile coming to her face at Frisk's expression. "You thought I'd let you stand beside someone else, or something?" She suddenly pulled the smaller girl closer, wrapping an arm around her waist and grinning. "As if!"

Frisk felt her cheeks glow and she looked around at the rest of the group, all of which met her gaze with a happy smile. The only one that didn't was Asriel, who sent her an apologetic smile while he stood beside his parents, glancing at his grinning sibling beside her, who pulled Frisk even closer with a soft laugh.

Frisk felt her own smile forming, her gaze gaze going down to her feet. But then a soft giggle echoed in her mind and she gasped a bit, watching the ground under her feet begin to fill with the black void once more. She looked around in alarm at the sight of her friends and family slowly vanishing. Her head snapped over to her partner's face, but all she saw was a reassuring smile before that girl also vanished.

 _'You liked that.'_ The voice observed, full of a gentle amusement. Frisk could only nod in reply, not trusting her voice while she stared out into the void. _'Then make it your reality.'_ The girl smiled a bit at the command, nodding more firmly this time. Another giggle met her ears and the voice's gentle tone took a more firm sound to it. _'Now it's time to wake up, Frisk. Remember... You are the future of humans and monsters. You have to stay determined.'_

She nodded for a third time, her determination filling her face, but it suddenly fell off in confusion, even while light began to form at the end of her vision of the black void. "Wait... Who are..?"

" _FRISK!"_

The light flooded her vision, keeping her from speaking...

* * *

...and she woke with a gasp, her vision flooding with light when her eyes cracked open. "W.. What, who..?" She groaned out, her hand latching onto her left shoulder out of instinct from the faint stinging pain she felt from it.

" _Yes! Thank you!"_ A voice suddenly shouted at her and Frisk blinked at the familiar sound, feeling a warm rush of air brush against her. " _Why the hell were you so quiet? You had me worried!"_ It snapped out in irritation, making the girl giggle softly while she leaned back in her mental space, finally recognizing the plush looking chair that she had 'woke up' in.

"* _Sorry, Chara. I was asleep."_ She answered with a warm smile, feeling Chara's concern and relief wash around her like a gentle breeze. _"*I didn't mean to make you worry."_

" _Well, tough cookies, because you did, you idiot."_ The Fallen Human snapped back, though winced at the own venom in her voice. "Sorry, I didn't mean..." She started, speaking aloud instead of in her head. Frisk just giggled back, sending a wave of content emotions through their connection and following it up with a wave of magic, forcing Chara's left eye to nearly close itself.

The sudden lack of vision was quickly made up for when Frisk began to share her senses, both girls gaining an idea of their surroundings from the closed eye. " _*It's okay, Chara. I know what you meant. I'm sorry."_ The girl assured her partner, making the normally auburn-haired girl rub behind her head with a slightly redder tint to her cheeks.

"Well... You don't have to be sorry, but what happened? Were you just asleep?" The question was met with a slight frown from the Fallen Hero, who rubbed at her shoulder slightly.

" _*I... guess so? I had a dream, but... I don't really remember what happened."_ She muttered honestly, feeling like a fog was blocking her thoughts. " _*I think you were in it, though..."_ That remark made Chara blink a bit in surprise before chuckling, trying to force the blush on her cheeks aside.

"Dreaming of me like that, partner? How cute." Frisk blushed a bit at what she was insinuating, though she barely knew what it was, and let out a _hmph_ , smiling confidently.

" _You mean two cute."_ She countered, giggling at the flush of embarrassment coming off her friend.

"That isn't going to be my name." She grumbled, her previous amusement forgotten, though Frisk still giggled at her embarrassment. She let out a huff, turning towards the arch way that led to the entrance of the Underground, her foot slightly tapping against the dirt. "Anyways, Partner, are you alright to go back in? I know we kind of just got up, but..."

" _*Yes."_ Frisk answered, nodding her head with a surprising amount of determination flooding through their system, making her partner stumble slightly. " _*We're bringing everyone to the surface... Including Asriel. We're going to make sure everyone is smiling."_ She announced, her tone and determination making Chara shudder from the rush of power going through them. _"Let's do this, partner."_

The words brought a smile to Chara's face, mixed with her relief that Frisk was apparently more than alright. "Right! We'll definitely beat him this time." Frisk nodded in response, her smile wide while Chara walked up to the archway, pausing for a moment. "Actually, wait, you should summon that dagger back to my hand. That thing was awesome." She said with a large grin, her eyes sparkling from the memory of the blade.

It took Frisk a moment to realize what she meant, her eyebrows arching up a bit. " _Summon dagger..? Oh! Right!"_ She nodded her head and held her right hand out in front of her, which Chara mirrored, feeling magic flow down her arm and begin to pulse when it reached her hand. The red energy began to straighten itself out then curve, forming a blade before it formed the white handle that Chara firmly grasped, a grin wide on her face. _"*You equipped the Devil's Horn! The fire in your soul sharpens the blade."_ Frisk narrated, smiling at the fascinated look on her partner's face.

 **[Equipped: Devil's Horn +0 ATK (+25 ATK, +5 DF, +20 MP)]**

Chara grinned to herself, moving the blade back and forth and even tossing it up once, catching it nimbly by the handle and rubbing her thumb against the heart print. She blinked suddenly, realizing what Frisk said. "Hm? That's not what you said last time." The Fallen Human noted, thinking back to the previous fight when the dagger had first formed. Frisk tilted her head a bit, confusion going through the connection.

" _*It's not? I could've sworn..'_ She hummed thoughtfully, to which Chara shrugged at, starting to walk forward again.

"Meh, doesn't matter, partner. I'm the usual Narrator anyways. What's important is that you're here." She had a wide smile on her face while she spoke, but her last remark made her face suddenly burn red, her eyes widening. "Er, I mean... I mean that, but..."

Frisk giggled to herself, her warm soul brushing over Chara's own, making both of them sport a rosy colored cheeks. _"It's okay, I know what you meant. I'm glad I'm here too, Chara... I'm glad I'm with you."_ She whispered softly, making the normally taller girl cough loudly, her face a bright red while she briskly walked past the arch way, heading quickly for the entrance.

"G... Good! I'm glad we're on the same page!" She declared with a loud _huff_ while she walked, getting another giggle from her friend, who smiled softly while she watched.

The image of Chara's sorrow filled face briefly flashed in her mind, but she pushed it aside... Determined to never let that happen.

* * *

"So you came back." Flowey grumbled, staring up at the human standing at the doorway with her one glowing eye staring at him. "How many times am I gonna have to kill you before you stop, Frisk?" He complained with a tired look on his face, shuffling his stem back and forth a bit.

Chara's eye twitched at the question, her left hand resting on her hip while her right waved the glowing dagger up and down slightly. "I told you, Asriel. It's really me. It's Chara. Frisk is letting me handle this, since I wasn't really in position to help last time." She shrugged a bit at the last remark, but Flowey just rolled his eyes, scoffing.

"Yeah, right. You expect me to believe that you're Chara? Then tell me something on she'd know!" He pointed a leaf at her, making the girl blink slowly, rubbing her chin thoughtfully with her free hand while the hand holding her knife went across her chest; the knife moving up and down beside her between her fingers.

"Something only I'd know? That's a bit hard since I've shared most of my stories with her..." The Fallen Human muttered, not noticing Flowey's face fall. She did, however, notice him shake his head back and forth, huffing loudly in irritation.

"It doesn't even matter, you idiot! I don't care if you're actually... if you're actually Chara! It won't take back what you did and it won't take back what I said!" He slapped his leaf against the ground, glaring up at the girl angrily. "I'm _not_ going back to the surface." Chara frowned a bit, crossing her arms and twirling the knife slowly between her fingers with a practiced ease. The sight of the knife moving around did catch Flowey's attention for a moment, but he quickly shot his eyes back up, glaring at the girl fiercely. "So leave! Just go away before I have to kill you again!"

Chara tilted her head slightly, her frown becoming more prominent while she stared at the remains of her adoptive brother. "I don't get why you're so against going up there. You don't even need to take care of those flowers... I'm right here." She pointed out, sticking one finger out to the flower bed behind the golden flower. He growled in annoyance at her words, thrashing about wildly.

"That's not IT, you idiot! Why don't you get it? I just want..." He stopped, his whole body drooping downwards and his gaze focused on the dirt below himself. "I just want to be left alone." Chara sighed at the remorseful tone, starting to open her mouth to talk again when she felt Frisk's soul begin to push past her own.

" _*Let me talk for a second."_ Frisk pleaded, getting only a slight nod in response, though Chara felt like the two were now standing side by side, each controlling the body at the same time. Frisk's body itself also showed this, with her eyes being only half open now and the glow to her cheeks becoming less prominent. Flowey _stared_ at the change, feeling the shift in the magic, and he was openly gaping at the sight of Frisk's gentle smile. The knife in her head disappeared during the change, forming a light red mist around her hand.

"Asriel..." Frisk started, her voice slightly huskier than normal, but now back to the low and gentle tones she typically used. "You're not alone. Chara and I understand what you've gone through... and you're the only one who knows what _we've_ been through." She held her hand out, her head tilting slightly to the side while she gave him her best smile while her half open eyes were full of affection. "Come with us. We'll find a way to fix you... and then we can live like a family." The flower stared at her with his mouth agape, slowly processing her words while tears began to brim on his eyes.

But after a moment, he slapped his leafs down on the ground, looking down with a loud groan. "I _can't go with you._ Not yet." Frisk tilted her head curiously, though she had no chance to ask what he meant by 'Not yet', as the flower was suddenly glaring up at her with a smug smirk. "You think I can let you boss me around and tell me to do this or that after what you did, _Chara_? Not only that, but you idiots actually think you can stop me if I do go crazy?" He let out his usual cackle, a jagged smile appearing on his face again. "Yeah right. If you want me to come with you so badly, then _beat me_. Take the souls from me." Chara clicked her tongue, starting to move herself in front of Frisk's soul to take over again, though she wasn't able to keep Frisk from shouting, her sadness filling their connection.

"But I don't want to fight you, Asriel!" Her words just made Flowey cackle again, the six human souls coming out of the ground and starting to spiral around his form. His body began to shift and grow once more, while Chara took over Frisk's body completely again, causing the red mist that the Devil's Horn turned into to reform into a dagger in her hand. Her cheeks began to glow slightly and she held her dagger up defensively, staring up at Flowey's quickly towering form.

"I guess I have to repeat myself, don't I?" The plant growled out, the large TV screen that made up his head coming to life and filling the room with the sound of static. It was a moment later it came to a stop, Flowey's face appearing on the screen with a cackle, followed by his deep voice echoing across the room. **"Howdy! I'm Flowey! Flowey the Flower!"** He giggled, forcing the Battle System upon the two once more.

Chara didn't even hesitate to mash the ACT button, anger clear in her eyes while she stared up at Omega Flowey. This time the beast waited patiently, a grin on his face while Chara went through the menus quickly.

 **[FIGHT] [*ACT] [ITEMS] [MERCY]**

 **[*Spells] [Plead] [Call for Help] [Curse]**

 **[Spells] → [Enhancement] [Fire Spells] [*Break]**

 **[Cast Break?] [*Yes] [No]**

 **[Battle?] [*Yes]**

 _ **[Music Selected: Your Best Nightmare]**_

" _*Wa... Wait, I don't know how to use Break!"_ Frisk suddenly shouted, feeling the magic flowing through their body due to Chara's command. The Princess just chuckled a bit at her worried expression, her free hand flexing its fingers while she let the magic flow through them.

"It's fine, partner. I've got it. Though we really need to find a faster way through this." Chara proclaimed, guiding the magic across the walls of the Battle System. Flowey watched with interest instead of confusion this time, watching the invisible walls become nothing more than glitter before disappearing entirely.

" **Dunno what the hell all this is, but I think it's better than the usual one at least. Means I get to attack you a lot more.** " The massive flower sneered, glaring down at the girl. " **'Course that makes you a lot more nimble too, but that's fine. Beat you once... Twice... Oh five times now and it gets easier every time.** " He laughed maniacally and the face on the screen flashed to a wide jagged grin when he heard Chara growl in annoyance. " **Awh, what's wrong? Touch a nerve? Here, let me touch even MORE!** " His shout was joined with a series of bright white 'friendliness pellets' flying at the girl from under his main body, making a large wall at least twice as large as Frisk herself.

" _*Asriel is a bit of a pervert, isn't he?"_ Frisk noted with a slight blush on her face, not at all intimidated by the approaching wall. Now that she was properly experienced in being in the "chair", she was already making sure to scan Chara's mind for what attacks she wanted to do, thus allowing her to preemptively push magic into the girl's system. So with a wave of her hand, a large orb of flame began to form in Chara's left hand, which then spread out into a large cube-like shape.

Chara smiled at the sight and waved her hand upwards, creating a large wall of flame that towered above them, devouring the pellets as they flew into it. Her smile grew at the sound of Flowey's growl of annoyance and she let the flames die down once she was sure the pellets were no longer a threat, leaving just a small bit of ember at their feet.

 **[Spell Created] → [Fire Spells] → [Flame Wall (0-30)]**

"Oh, neat." Chara chirped a bit in surprise at the news, smiling while she walked towards Flowey's form. "And yeah, a little bit. He's always been an accidental pervert. But he's also like... I dunno, ten? Eleven? One of the two." She scrunched her nose up a bit, frowning. "Not really sure how resets factor into that, though." Flowey stared in confusion at the conversation she was seemingly having with herself and he let out a howl of frustration, sending four giant vines all jabbing towards the girl's body in front of her. There were two at each side, but one of the two were shooting straight for her shoulder on its side, while the other was heading for her knees.

" **Don't ignore me!** "

" _*Well, it's not his body, so it probably doesn't count."_ Frisk pointed out, her mental form glowing with power, which she sent into Chara's soul, empowering the girl's speed and strength. The girl smiled at the feeling and swung her knife around rapidly, chopping the vines apart into small bits as they flew towards her. Each one split down the center, removing their ability to impale the girl, who simply jumped forward and let them crash into each other behind her back.

"Maybe. Speaking of which... How old are you, Frisk?" The casual tone threw the Fallen Hero off guard, keeping her from responding right away, while Chara focused on doing a quick back flip over the vines behind her. The vines had been attempting to wrap around her from behind, but her sudden flip made their source groan in frustration, slamming the vines on the ground to send a large cloud of dust into the air.

" _*Eh? How old am I?"_ Frisk repeated in a surprised tone, clapping her hands and watching as Chara's eye snapped closed to avoid getting dust in it. The other eye was still partially open, however, and still sent partial information. The slight ruffling of wind and a faint glow of magic at the edge of their senses allowed Chara to bend backwards, dodging the large knife that tried to behead her from the side, letting it sore over her head harmlessly.

"That's what I asked." The Princess laughed, standing back up straight and turning towards the knife that went past her. It spun in the air and swung towards her again; the blade going straight for her neck. She held her own knife up in response, causing a loud clang to echo across the room while the dust finally began to settle, letting her see the knife pushing against her clear as day.

Flowey let out a cackle at the sight, pushing harder with his large vine-arm holding onto the knife, but his second arm suddenly grabbed its own knife, swinging it in a sideways arc at Chara's back. Frisk felt the knife on the edge of her vision more than Chara and hastily responded to it, suddenly clapping her hands and then moving them upwards with her palms towards the air.

" _*Blue!_ " She announced, forcing Chara's soul to glow a bright blue color that shot her high into the air, making her gasp in alarm. The knife she was holding back barely missed her feet while she shot up once the object blocking it disappeared, but now the two massive blades were flying right towards each other and hit against one another with a loud clang. Flowey howled from the noise and the vibrations going up his arm while Frisk carefully sent her body flying to the side and then gently back down to the ground, a nervous smile on her face. _"*I don't think this is really the best time."_

"Good a time as any." Her partner quipped, twirling the knife between her fingers for a moment with a smile, waiting for Flowey to recover. "Besides, I'll answer too. It's not a big deal." She saw the two knives suddenly spin and fly towards her, indicating the monster's recovery, and smiled as she raised her dagger to block both of them. But it was during that moment that she realized the knives were _spinning_ , having been thrown so the blade or the handle would slam right into her on their way over and then keep going.

She flicked her own hand upwards, tossing herself up into the air with the blue magic that was still holding onto her soul. She smiled, watching the knives start to fly past where she was standing before, but her eye widened and quickly snapped to the side at the sight of a third knife flying right towards her head. Flowey's grinning visage was at the corner of her vision as well, adding to the annoyance, and she quickly held her knife up in an attempt to block the attack.

But she found herself suddenly flung to the side thanks to Frisk's intervention, sending her flying to her right and back towards where they had originally been when the battle started. She gasped from the sudden movement, feeling her hair and body being pulled by the pressure, but her eye widened at the sight of _another_ knife flying right at them. She flung herself downwards this time, overriding Frisk's movement.

As soon as her feet landed on the ground, she found herself being launched off it thanks to the handle of a knife slamming into her chin, seemingly coming from the ground she stood upon. Flowey's cackle mixed with the sudden ringing in her ears while she flew upwards, her eye spinning along with her body. The blue glow in her chest also fizzled out, going back to the normal red one they typically had.

 **[HP: 20/20 (22/25)]**

Chara felt the ground suddenly slam against her back, making her groan along with Frisk, who no doubt had to deal with having their brains raddled together. "Ugh... You alright?" She rasped, starting to force herself up to her feet. Flowey seemed to just wait for them to get up, staring down at them with a jagged smile that spoke volumes of the arrogance he was feeling. The girl frowned at the sight, but kept her annoyance to herself while she slowly stood up, starting to pat down the back of Frisk's shorts.

" _*I think so..."_ Frisk answered, groaning slightly right after. _"*Bleh... At least the System seems to numb the pain a little, but that hurt."_ Chara chuckled a bit, making sure her knife was still clutched in her hand for a moment.

"Less than you'd think, but yeah. This jerk is trying to play smart." She sent the 'jerk' in question a large smile, showing off Frisk's teeth. He flinched a bit from the sight, making the adopted Dreemurr chuckle mentally, having tried to make the "creepy face" that Asriel liked to laugh at all those years ago. His reaction made it clear she was at least somewhat close, even with Frisk's naturally cute face.

" _*My face is not naturally cute! I worked hard for that look!"_ The Fallen Hero complained, letting out an annoyed huff at Chara's amused feeling. _"*Besides, you're the one that's 2cute."_ Frisk teased, causing Chara's amusement to drop into an embarrassed snarl; her foot stomping on the ground.

"That's not my name!" She snapped, making Flowey jump at the sudden shift in emotion and the redness on her face. The girl huffed, hearing Frisk giggle in her mind, and forced herself to focus on the creature in front of her. "But anyways... I'm getting tired of dealing with this." She stomped her foot again, pointing dramatically at Omega Flowey with her knife, her eye glaring at him. "You hear that Asriel!? I'm tired of you being so annoyingly stubborn like Asgore! I'm going to bring you down and teach you what it means to be a Dreemurr again!" She shouted with confidence, starting to focus all of her magical power across her body. Frisk, sensing this, quickly began to do the same, helping Chara guide the magic along.

 _ **[Music Change:Determination of Royalty]**_

Flowey stared for a moment, before letting out his howling laughter again. His screen flickered then shifted to a large grin spread across the entire screen with two red eyes staring down at her." **You're going to take me down? Really? I've got to say, that's your best joke yet! Too bad it wasn't a pun, since I know you're a glutton for** _ **pun**_ **ishment.** _"_ He cackled , though the amusement suddenly fell from his 'face', instead giving her a dark glare with a straight line making up his mouth. " **But I'm done messing with you too. I've got no more patience for this.** " His announcement was amplified by the amount of large books beginning to form under him, each one being wide open with the ends touching the next one over.

Both girls frowned a bit at the sight, while Flowey laughed, watching the books he summoned spit out massive 3D words at the girl's form. **DESPAIR** flew right at them from the front, but Chara just shook her head at the sight and sliced downwards at it. Flowey's eyes snapped open in alarm at the sight of the word splitting in half and flying past Chara from the single swing. The girl smiled slightly at the expression, but began to walk slowly forward, watching the other words fly past, since he had been expecting them to dodge.

Another word flew at them from the right, but Chara sliced right through **ANGER** without even glancing at it. A wave of wind pushed the split word away from the force of the attack alone, making it run into **HOPELESS** , which spun around and then charged right towards the girl... Only to be sliced in the middle, separating HOPE from LESS. Chara chuckled a bit at the sight, watching the words fly off.

She turned her gaze up to the screen above, smiling slightly. "Despair... Anger... Hopelessness..." She spun around, her hair waving in the wind while a blade of red energy smashed into the last word that tried so sneak up behind her, causing **FEAR** to evaporate into nothing. She stopped on her heel while facing the flower bed, her eyes closed for a moment, before she slowly opened her left eye staring up at Flowey's shocked expression. "Fear..." She chuckled softly, placing her free hand on her hip.

"I've let go of all of those, Asriel... Isn't it time for you to do the same?"

Flowey could only glare, his whole form shaking while he stared down at the human that stood below him. She gave him a patient smile, or at least the best she could muster, but it fell when another word flew towards her. She grumbled, slicing the H off **HATE** , and watched it fly off beside her. She began chuckling softly with an amused look on her face, watching them go. "Such large words. You must have _ate_ rather well, Ha-sriel." She joked, glancing up at Omega Flowey with a grin, looking at the deadpanned look he was giving her.

Frisk had a similar expression, but her lips twitched upwards against her will. _"*That was terrible."_

"Oh come on, you're smiling." Chara chuckled, making Frisk huff indignantly.

" _*I am and I hate it."_ She grumbled, only to gasp suddenly in alarm. " _*Oh no! Chara! It's happening!"_ Chara blinked in confusion, scratching her cheek slightly.

"It's happening?" Their chat was once again interrupted by a large vine swinging down at their head, causing Chara to hop to the side to dodge. She sighed in annoyance, looking up with a frown and putting her foot on the vine on the ground beside her. "Hey, do you mind? Trying to have a chat here."

Flowey twitched and sighed suddenly, his screen going blank, though his voice still came from it. " **I'm done. I'm done with you. I'm not dropping my emotions, even if they're negative. If you can't accept that I want to be alone, then...** " Vines began to flow rapidly above his form, making loud cracking noises as they snapped off the ceiling, allowing him to bring more and more down, each pointing their sharp ends towards the frowning girl.

" _*We're turning into a couple of boneheads!"_ Frisk suddenly shouted in their mind, seeming completely oblivious to the threat looming above. Chara's eye twitched at the sound, realizing what she meant, but she began to take a slow step backwards to prepare for Flowey's upcoming attack, deciding to ignore her partner for a moment. But Frisk's lack of attention made the magic that was empowering Chara fizzle out a bit, lowering the adrenaline she felt going through her veins, which she was quick to complain about.

"We're about to be deadheads if you don't pay attention."

" _*Oh, sorry."_ Frisk apologized, focusing again and reinforcing Chara's muscles. The girl smiled at the feeling and quickly jumped to the right, dodging a vine that tried to sneak up behind her while she was 'focusing' on the vines Flowey was still gathering a large amount of around himself. He glared at her dodge, but three more vines suddenly shot out from under the flower's large TV head, each aiming for different points of Chara's body.

The first was easily dodged, letting it sore past the girl's head while the second required her to jump upwards, landing on the vine itself. The girl began to quickly run down the vine, pulling magic to the blade in her hand and swinging it towards the last vine that flew towards her, resulting in the vine being sliced apart by a wave of red magic. The Fallen Human suddenly jumped into the air again, feeling the vine that had attempted to sneak behind them try and stab at their shoulder from the side. She sent Flowey a dark grin while she hovered in the air for just a brief moment.

But her grin was mirrored on Flowey's face, making her own falter when she saw several vines beginning to fly at her from the front. She began to turn to move herself backwards in the air with a fire spell, only to see even more vines flying at her from behind as well. A quick glance to both sides revealed that the thick vines were shooting at them from those directions as well. Any gaps between the vines were quickly filled in while they moved and even the air beneath their feet began to be filled up with vines curving under and shooting up towards Chara's feet.

" _*Oh no! We're surrounded! What do we do!?"_ Frisk cried out in alarm, giving off waves of panic through the girl's connection. But her partner sent a wave of determination through it, making the brown-haried girl pause in her panic, watching as her red-eyed partner shot forward with a blast of flame coming out of her left hand to give her some force.

"We win, of course!" She shouted boldly, heading straight for the wall of vines in front of her. The sudden charge was unexpected, but clearly not unwelcome as the flower made his vines quickly aim at the girl again, even as Chara landed with one foot on one of the vines that had been attempting to impale her. A quick slice of her knife rendered a good four or five vines as nothing more than quick stumps, but Chara gasped in alarm at the sight of much smaller vines beginning to grow out of the stumps she had just created, slowly twisting together and growing into a much thicker vine with two sharp looking tips instead of one.

Chara just jumped back from the sight and was thankful she did, watching the 'new' vines stab at where her leg had been before, clashing against each other due to the number of them. She scowled at the sight, twisting in the air and kicking away one of the vines that attempted to stab her from behind. Her body began to fall to the side due to this, sending her towards even more vines, though it was hardly an option not to at this point. The vines seemed to release this as well, beginning to entangle themselves together and create a large, thorn filled sphere to trap the humans completely, leaving no means of escape.

Flowey's laughter tore through the air of their 'prison'; the whole thing shaking from it. Chara clicked her tongue in irritation, twisting a bit more in the air and landing on a vine below her, putting her feet right beside one of the large thorns near the center of the sphere. When the vines didn't react to the increase of pressure, the red-eyed girl glanced around to make sure none of them were going for another sneak attack. Not sensing any movement, she hummed thoughtfully, her shoulders relaxing slightly. "Seems he's planning something... or he's just going to trap us in here until we get bored."

" _*That won't happen."_ Frisk stated, clenching her fists with a determined look on her face.

Chara nodded her head in agreement, eying the vines warily while slowly twisting her foot slightly against the one under her. "Right. How much power you think we've got left?"

" _*Enough."_

"Classy." Chara snorted, rolling her eye a bit. Frisk giggled a bit, shrugging her shoulders.

" _*Sorry. But we've got enough to make a hole I think, unless he made extra layers behind us or something."_ Frisk claimed, getting a shrug from her partner.

"He's definitely pla-" Chara stumbled, getting interrupted by the vines suddenly moving towards each other, decreasing the size of their 'prison' rather quickly. "There it is." She groaned out, holding up her knife and aiming towards the vines in front of her feet. She swung hard with red magic flaring up around the attack, but even though it cut through the vines she saw, it only left a hole for a split second into another patch of vines before it was covered up again. Chara frowned at the sight, standing up straight and clenching a thorn between her feet to keep herself steady. "Seems he's really playing the strategy game this time instead of just attacking us like crazy." She idly noted, looking around for a way to escape.

Frisk hummed thoughtfully, looking around through her own senses with a frown. _"*He's got this one surrounded by another larger one... I think? It's hard to tell."_ Chara just grunted in response, her mind whirling with ideas to try and get out, but the rapid decrease in space made her thoughts jumble together, making Frisk wince from the mix of information. _"*C... Chara, calm down. Don't over think it."_

The Fallen Human flinched a bit, her thoughts going blank for a moment while she let out a sigh. "Yeah, sorry. I just don't know what the right plan is here." She grumbled sliding back slightly on the vine she stood on to get a better footing. She blinked in confusion at the sudden snap she heard inside her head, feeling Frisk's excitement. "Huh? What's up partner?" She questioned, looking around to see if Frisk noticed something she didn't, pausing once she heard her partner's laugh.

" _*I've got our solution.."_ Chara sent a confused look to the girl, earning a knowing smile in return. _"_ _*We play his original game. Going all out. No plan necessary."_ Frisk explained, starting to gather up the magic still resting in their system. But Chara's face fell from the words, not quite understanding.

"That's it? You know that's a terrible idea, right? We'll be sitting ducks." She grumbled, her back bending backwards slightly from the size of the sphere getting much smaller, leaving her without a proper foot hold. Thankfully, there were no thorns against her back, though one was very close to her shoulder as she fell against its body, but she paid it no mind.

" _*Then we will cherish it, just like Undyne wanted! We won't give up, just like he didn't!"_ Frisk yelled sending waves of determination and magic flowing through their connection. Chara grinned from the feeling, briefly thinking about the bird that carried them over a disproportionately small gap. Her soul burned with her own determination, mixing with Frisk's feelings and surrounding their body in a thick red aura. Her eye burned even brighter than her body as she stood up; the vines under her burning into a proper platform to stand on.

 _ **[Music Change: Feeling That Carries You Over A Disproportionately Small Gap]**_

"My soul burns..." Chara whispered while she slid to the center of the increasingly small sphere, flames licking her feet and making a ramp down to the center for her to slide on.

" _*...and lights the air around you! The memory of the bird fills you to the brim with determination! If he can bring himself to travel that gap..!"_ Frisk continued for her partner, standing up in their 'mental state' with her own mental image burning with determination.

"Then we can't stop either!" The red-eyed girl clapped her hands, grinning with the aura around her bursting into flames. The sudden heat coming from the vines made Flowey pause in his crushing, either due to surprise or the amount of magic the girl was letting off disrupting his control, but either way the whole thing began to alight itself with the determined flames. The green plant matter began to turn into a black ash, slowly crumbling to the ground.

Flowey openly gaped at the sight of his vines being burned away, the screen unable to keep itself from showing his wide eyed expression on his Flower face. Black ash began to fall to the ground with an orb of flame lowering itself down with it and the flower quickly pulled the vines he had surrounding the 'prison' he had planned to crush Chara in away from the flames before they could light themselves. The vines that were still lit were cut off by a giant blade, preventing them from getting to his main body.

But he couldn't do anything from the orb of fire suddenly flying at his massive arms, lighting them on fire right at the shoulders. He howled in pain and irritation, feeling the flames quickly spreading across the plant matter that made up a majority of his body. But after a moment, he ignored the feeling, focusing on the girl grinning and pointing up at him with her knife while her other hand rested on her hip. The flames that had once surrounded her were only embers at her feet and the glowing in her eye shined brightly with determination and confidence.

"We'll close the gap, Asriel, and take you back home, whether you think you deserve it or not." Chara loudly exclaimed, her grin increasing in size at the scowl he sent her way. "Those souls of yours aren't nearly as strong as before, but ours is burning brighter than ever. You can't handle this heat!" The large creature just glared, unable to think of a proper retort while subtly having vines spray water onto the flames from behind himself, keeping his eye locked onto the girl who returned his glare with a cocky grin.

None of them noticed the blue eye staring from the door way.

* * *

 _ **Chapter... END!**_

 _ **A little bit of cheese at the end that was kind of put in there just in a burst of inspiration from saying 'sitting duck.' It felt like it fit them, though, since they're total nerds. Plus that song is actually part of Alphy's theme as well, or at least that's what I've been told, so the anime nerdiness felt appropriate.**_

 _ **But welcome to Part 2 of the Flowey Fight! Part 3 may end right away, or it might take even longer. Maybe they'll give up. Maybe...**_

… _**Maybe I'm not determined enough to finish it.**_

 _ **Either way, tell me what you think!**_


End file.
